Just Like the Good Old Days
by Redbayly
Summary: This was the last thing either of them had expected. One minute they were on a boat, with Tarrlok putting the Equalist glove to the fuel tank, and the next they wake up in the South Pole. And not only that, why are they kids again? And even more confusing, why is the Avatar a kid as well? Rated T to be safe.
1. A Second Chance

Just Like the Good Old Days

**I don't own Legend of Korra.**

A Second Chance

Noatak's POV:

When I sensed Tarrlok put on the electric glove and set it to the fuel tank, I thought that would be the end of it. I thought we would finally be at peace. But the spirits had other plans for us. It was strange, dying. I felt serene, and thought that, just maybe, the spirits would let us be. Then, suddenly, it was cold. So cold. It reminded me of when I ran off into the blizzard, leaving my brother behind. Every second of that cold made me regret my actions. I wanted the cold to take me and have that be the end of it. But no, I raised my head and saw snow. It _was_ a blizzard. Where was I? Was I in the North Pole again? I shifted and sensed a body next to me. It was Tarrlok! But, not the Tarrlok who had attempted to get rid of us both. No, this was the Tarrlok from years ago, probably no older than four. I raised a hand to my own face. It felt younger, I reached my hand to my hair. Sure enough, the ponytail I always wore in my youth was there. I shook Tarrlok awake, hoping he was alive as well. He roused and looked at me with wide eyes.

"N-Noatak?" He asked.

"Tarrlok. Something's happened."

"Why are you..? Am I...?" He struggled to ask his questions. But now was not a time for questions.

"Tarrlok, we need to find shelter." I helped him up.

The blizzard was so thick, I could barely see. But then, in the darkness, I saw it. A beacon of hope. A light, and a figure.

"Hello?" I called out. The figure seemed to have heard, as it headed in our direction.

Soon the figure drew closer, and raised the lantern to its face. I realized it was a woman. She was clearly Water Tribe, and had black hair tied in two braids that hung down the front of her parka. Her deep, blue eyes were filled with concern.

"What are you children doing out here? You could freeze to death." She said. There was something familiar about her, but I didn't know what. "Well, come on, let's get you two out of this blizzard."

We let her lead us back to her home. A cozy igloo, with lots of animal pelts and tribal decorations. I instantly felt at home.

"Tonraq! Come in here!" She called out.

At the sound of her voice, a tall Water Tribe man entered. He looked tough but had a kind face.

"Senna, what did you find out in that blizzard _this_ time? I swear, if it's another polar-bear-dog..."

She gestured to us, and the man shifted his gaze. I felt intimidated. Strange, as I could probably still Bloodbend this man if he were any threat to us. In the past, the only person who intimidated me was my father. I suppose that was it. I was a child again, so naturally I would feel as though this man was scrutinizing me and Tarrlok, trying to find our flaws. At least, that's how I felt until his face lit up with a humorous smile.

"Senna, when did we have two more kids?" He said jokingly. "The otter-stork must be busy if we had two children that I didn't know about."

The woman chuckled and kissed the man on the cheek.

"I found them lost in the blizzard." She explained. "There's no way we can let them out into weather like that."

They turned to us.

"So, what are your names, boys?" Tonraq asked.

I knew we couldn't give our real names. So, I just altered them a bit.

"I'm Noak, and this is my brother Tarro."

"Where are your parents?" Senna added.

"They're," I hung my head, the truth is I had no idea where my parents were, "no longer with us."

Tonraq and Senna instantly gave us sympathetic looks. Tarrlok looked at me, I knew we were going to have to talk about this later. Senna put a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, you are both more than welcome to stay with us. We already have a daughter about your age. Speaking of which, where is she?" Senna turned to look at Tonraq.

"Korra!" He shouted. When I heard that name, I thought my heart had stopped.

Suddenly, the door to one of the side rooms was knocked down with a crash. Tonraq rolled his eyes, a bemused smirk on his face. Senna, however, was not too happy.

"Korra, how many times have I asked you not to knock down the wall in order to enter a room?"

The little girl tried to count off on her fingers, then shook her head as if it didn't matter anyway.

"I'm the Avatar, mom! You gotta deal with it!"

I was speechless. This was Avatar Korra? How was this possible? Any of this? Then it hit me. The spirits must have decided to give me and Tarrlok another chance. An opportunity to correct our mistakes. And they did that by sending us to Avatar Korra's childhood? This was getting weird.

"Korra, honey, you can't just keep busting down walls like that. It's destructive."

"And expensive." Tonraq muttered.

The little Avatar pouted, then used Earthbending to repair the wall. She was already so advanced at such a young age? I guess it's not so surprising. She then noticed me and Tarrlok. She approached us, a curious look on her face. She marched straight up to me, her eyes seemed to challenge me, as they had done before. Or would do in the future? I'm not sure, it's confusing.

"Who are you? And why do you have a ponytail? Ponytails are for girls."

"Korra," Senna spoke to the child, "this is Noak and his brother Tarro. They're going to stay with us."

The child's face lit up with excitement.

"So the otter-stork brought me brothers?" Then her face fell. "But I wanted a baby sister."

I laughed. It was impossible not to laugh at the adorable naïveté of the young Avatar.

Tarrlok's POV:

Okay, I could handle the waking up from my attempt at murder-suicide to discover I was four-years-old again. Heck, I could even handle being taken in by Avatar Korra's family, even though all logic and reason made this an impossibility. But what I couldn't handle, was the fact that my brother was laughing. I had to admit, Avatar Korra had been very cute with her little quip about wanting a baby sister instead of two brothers, but I never expected Noatak to laugh. He hadn't laughed in years, I don't even remember the last time I heard him laugh. Avatar Korra didn't seem too happy about being laughed at though. She turned to glare at my brother, she still had that adorable pout on her face.

"I don't like him. Tell the otter-stork to take him back." She then turned to look at me. And, surprisingly enough, she sniffed the air. "He smells like a lady."

"I do _not_." I protested.

She turned to her parents.

"The lady-smelling one can stay, but the other one has to go."

"Korra, be nice." Senna told her. "These boys lost their parents. We are going to look after them. You are going to treat them like family. Understand?"

Korra pouted again, but said nothing.

"Now," Senna continued, "I'll bet you children are hungry. I'll get dinner ready."

Tonraq took his daughter's hand and led her over to take a seat by the firepit. He then noticed that we were just standing there.

"Come on, boys, don't be shy. You need to warm up after being in that storm."

We walked over and sat down. It felt wonderful to be in a familiar sort of setting. I had missed native Water Tribe life. But I still felt nervous, and I could tell that Noatak felt the same way. The Avatar's family had taken us in so quickly. They were so clueless as to how powerful we were. If they knew the truth about us...I don't even want to think about it. Another thing made me uncomfortable; if my father had been so horrible to me and Noatak when he learned we were Waterbenders, who's to say the Avatar's father would be any different. He probably didn't think we were Waterbenders, that's why he was being so courteous to us. If he knew we were, he would probably berate us and say we would never be as gifted as his daughter. She was _the Avatar_ after all. I knew Noatak was thinking the same thing. No matter what, we had to keep our Waterbending a secret. Then it occurred to me, were we even Waterbenders? Had the spirits let us keep our abilities, knowing full well what we were capable of? Not to mention the fact that Noatak had taken my Bending away, had it been restored? It wasn't important now.

"Daddy," Korra said to Tonraq, "can we practice Waterbending tomorrow?"

It was as if the spirits had been reading my thoughts.

"I thought we would all go penguin-sledding instead." Tonraq replied. What was going on? In my childhood, we had to beg our father to let us do normal childhood things, and he would often never consent and force us to practice. And yet, Korra was the one asking to practice, and her father wanted to goof-off.

"Yeah! Penguin-sledding!" She then turned to us. "Do you guys like penguin-sledding?"

"We don't know." Noatak answered. "We've never been."

Korra's jaw dropped in shock.

"Never been penguin-sledding? Well then we _definitely _need to do that tomorrow!"

"Dinner's ready!" Senna called.

Later, we were shown to a bedroom that we would share with Korra. Senna fetched more animal pelts and blankets and made beds for us. Before she left, she kissed Korra's forehead and gave me and Noatak hugs. For the first time in years, I was truly happy. I felt so safe and secure. Maybe the spirits knew what they were doing after all.

**Hope you all like the first chapter. How's Korra's life going to be different with Noatak and Tarrlok in it in a different way than they were originally? Wait and see. Love you all, and please review.**


	2. PenguinSledding and Hunting Trips

Just Like the Good Old Days

**I don't own Legend of Korra.**

Penguin-Sledding and Hunting Trips

Noatak's POV:

The last thing I expected to be awakened by was a small, furry creature pawing at my leg. My instincts naturally took over, and I shrank away from whatever it was. After I had collected myself, I saw that it was a polar-bear-dog puppy. Of course, this was the Avatar's polar-bear-dog. I had to admit, she was pretty adorable. The polar-bear-dog, I mean. The Avatar was also wide awake.

"Come on!" She shouted. "Penguin-sledding! Let's go!"

Tarrlok mumbled in his state of semi-consciousness. Tarrlok had never been much of a morning person. I, on the other hand, got up without complaint. Seeing that I had awakened, the Avatar grabbed my hand and dragged me out into the main room, where Senna was waiting. She smiled at us and offered us bowls of a warm porridge that I remember is a very popular breakfast in both the Water Tribes. It had been years since I had eaten so much Water Tribe food. I really had missed it. Senna must have realized that Tarrlok was still asleep, because she went into the bedroom to fetch him. Tonraq then emerged from the other room, he clearly was not a morning person either. I really felt bad for the guy when Avatar Korra started to assail him with questions about when we were going penguin-sledding.

"Korra, sweetie," he said with strained calmness, "could you give daddy a little quiet, he has a headache?"

Avatar Korra gave her signature pout, but stopped. We ate our breakfast silently, until Senna reemerged from the bedroom, leading my still very tired brother in and handing him a bowl.

"Glad to see you are all awake, finally." Senna said cheerily, eliciting grumbling from both my brother and Tonraq. "Korra, you're unusually energetic today."

"That's because daddy's taking us penguin-sledding!" She replied.

"Korra, please, five more minutes of quiet is all I ask." Tonraq said.

By the time we had all finished breakfast, Tonraq was fully awake and much more cheerful. Senna apparently had work to do, so she made us all lunch to take with us.

This had to have been the best day of my life. It wasn't about achieving any goals or plotting the end of all Benders, it was about being a kid again. And that's what I was, and that's what Tarrlok was. We weren't Amon and Councilman Tarrlok, we were Noak and Tarro. Two Water Tribe brothers who had been taken in by the Avatar's family. And we were going to ride penguins all day.

I had been nervous at first. Growing up, neither Tarrlok nor I had ever gone penguin-sledding. As of that day, I knew what was missing from my childhood.

Tarrlok's POV:

Noatak was a natural at penguin-sledding. The little creatures came right up to him and Korra. When they didn't come to me at first, I had that fear that had been ingrained into me since childhood that if I ever made a mistake then Yakone would yell at me. But it wasn't the case now. Tonraq clearly noticed the worry on my face, because he started coming towards me. Do you have any idea what it's like to be small and helpless and afraid you've done something wrong, and that years of abuse had taught you that if you messed up you would get shouted at or even hit at times? But Tonraq simply put a hand on my shoulder and smiled at me, then he handed me a fish and instantly a hoard of penguins came after me. I could hear Noatak's laughter again, and Korra's as well.

"I guess they like you best, Tarro!" Korra shouted to me.

And, without even realizing it, I was laughing too.

Korra's POV:

These two are weird. But I like them. We're going to be best friends forever. I admit that I didn't like Noak at first, because he laughed at me. Tarro still smells like a lady though, we'll have to work on that. Today was lots of fun. And I hope we'll still get to have fun, even after the White Lotus finds out I'm the Avatar and I start my training. I like Waterbending, I wonder if Noak and Tarro are Waterbenders, I guess I'll have to ask them later.

Noatak's POV:

We got back late in the afternoon. Senna had returned and was starting on dinner. When she saw us come in she went over to Tonraq and told him that he had been chosen to hunt the wild game for some sort of upcoming festival. He said that it would be an honor. Then came the second part of the news. According to a custom, he was required to bring any children who lived in the house with him on the hunt. An unusual custom indeed. So now, we were off on a hunting trip. How I hated those two words. Hunting trip. So many awful memories. A few days later, we packed up some supplies and headed out. I sensed Tarrlok's unease. We were both thinking the same thing. _Please don't let this be like one of Yakone's 'hunting trips'._ Even though we both knew it was unlikely that Tonraq would ever teach Bloodbending to anyone, let alone his daughter and the two of us, it just hit too close to home to be comfortable. As we all sat around the campfire that night, I felt as though any moment we would be hearing a story about taking over Republic City and getting revenge and all that. But such a thing never came. This was a for-real hunting trip, and Tonraq was keeping his senses sharp. He seemed to be the one who was afraid.

"Aren't you boys gonna get some sleep?" He asked us.

We shook our heads. He gave a nervous smile.

"I don't know who the idiot was who decided that children should go on this hunting trip. Didn't they have any idea how dangerous this is?" He asked rhetorically. He was genuinely concerned for our safety, that's more than our own father.

Korra was fast asleep, nestled up to her father's side. Wait, I just referred to the Avatar by her first name. Huh, I guess I'm getting used to her already.

Tarrlok's POV:

I had been nervous since this whole hunting trip began. I'm sure by know you know why. But, Tonraq was like the father we never had, he was actually making sure we were safe. We had all been staring into the fire, except for Korra who was asleep, when the polar-leopard attacked. Tonraq had been on-edge all night, so he was ready for when that animal came out of nowhere. I'm surprised that Noatak didn't sense it coming, then again we still weren't sure if we were Waterbenders. Korra had asked us the other day if we were Waterbenders, but we just shrugged and didn't say anything. Tonraq was fighting the polar-leopard head-on, and without using Waterbending. I looked over to where Korra was. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the proud and mighty Avatar shaking like an Autumn leaf. Tonraq told us all to get away, but we couldn't just leave him there. Noatak seemed to have the same idea as me, as he stepped forward and I knew what he was doing. He was going to try and Bloodbend. I rushed over and whispered to him.

"Don't do it. The spirits did not spare our lives to have us Bloodbend again."

He looked at me, and I gave him a hard stare to show that I meant what I said. His expression softened, and instead of trying to Bloodbend, he tried ordinary Waterbending. And it worked. He managed to freeze the polar-leopard's paws, allowing Tonraq to get the upper-hand and use _his _Waterbending to finish it off. He turned to Noatak, a look of sincere gratitude on his face.

"I told you to run, and instead you save my life. That polar-leopard would have had me if not for you."

He patted Noatak on the shoulder. Then he turned to me. I had that fear again, afraid that he would yell at me for not doing anything, but it faded when he placed his hand on my shoulder too.

"Are you alright? Not too shaken up?"

I told him I was fine, and then we turned to Korra, who was still trembling. Tonraq went over to her and picked her up, rubbing her back reassuringly.

The rest of the hunting trip was actually pretty uneventful. Tonraq told us how to handle certain hunting tools, saying that Waterbending or not, we needed to know how to handle weapons. I really could get used to this life.

**Tarrlok and Noatak seem to be getting very comfortable with how their new life is turning out. I haven't decided if this is going to be a Noarra or Korrlok fic yet (maybe even Noarralok. I 'm not using the term Amorra/Amorralok because he's not Amon anymore). I know I'm not going to make it either Makorra or Borra. I don't really like Makorra that much anymore, I don't mind Borra but it's not my favorite. Any suggestions?**


	3. White Lotus

Just Like the Good Old Days

**I don't own the Legend of Korra.**

White Lotus

Noatak's POV:

Words cannot express the hatred I felt for the Order of the White Lotus on the day they came to take Korra. When they first arrived to inspect the claim that Korra was the Avatar, it was several months after Tarrlok and I had shown up and Korra had already become our best friend. At first, we were proud of Korra, knowing what a great Avatar she would be as we had seen her for ourselves in the future. But, once Korra had burst through the wall with her favorite declaration of "I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!" and proceeded to Bend the three elements she knew, the White Lotus said that they would be moving her to a compound. It dawned on me then that I would not get to see her every day like I had gotten used to. No, I wasn't going to let anyone take her away. She was too free-spirited to be confined all the time. My usually calm demeanor snapped.

"You can't take Korra away!" I shouted at those old fools.

"Young man, she will be well taken care of. It was the wish of Avatar Aang that the new Avatar be kept safe." Replied one of the old men.

"Then I'm going with her." I don't know what compelled me to say it. No, wait, I actually do. She's my best friend, and I would not let them keep her locked up like some kind of prisoner. Not surprisingly, Tarrlok also agreed.

"Yeah, wherever Korra goes, we go. You're not gonna tear us apart." He said.

The White Lotus people looked us over.

"Are you both Waterbenders?" The only woman in the group asked.

"Yes." I answered. We had learned that Tarrlok's Bending had been restored when we crossed over. Tonraq had been practicing with us and Korra, he is a much better teacher than Yakone and he never got angry when any of us didn't get the hang of something right away.

"Then I suppose we can ask Master Katara if she will accept you as her students as well." The woman continued.

I couldn't believe it. What just happened? We weren't going to be separated from Korra? I was ecstatic, until I realized that that would mean we would have to leave Tonraq and Senna. They had been like parents to me and Tarrlok, I didn't want to lose them either. The old woman who had supported us must have seen the conflict on my face, because she then turned to Tonraq and Senna.

"We will, of course, allow you two to visit them whenever you wish."

Tarrlok's POV:

I couldn't believe it. We were standing before the great Waterbending Master Katara, the widow of Avatar Aang, a hero of the hundred-year war, a living legend, the woman my father called a coward for making Bloodbending illegal. I had instant respect for this woman, especially since she had unhesitatingly agreed to let me and Noatak stay with Korra. I could sense that Noatak also respected her, though he told me that he wasn't happy about the fact that the only reason we got to stay was because we were Waterbenders. Same old Noatak, I guess, not seeing the positive aspect of our situation and focusing on the 'biased' views of the White Lotus. At least we were learning Waterbending the legal way, with no Bloodbending lessons, and no angry Yakone yelling at us (mostly me) whenever we made a slip-up. Korra was a natural, just like Noatak. Even though I had already mastered Waterbending, I was still a slow learner compared to them. But Master Katara never verbally abused me like Yakone did. Tonraq had been just as fair when we learned I was a Waterbender. I remember that night we first went out to practice Waterbending together with Tonraq as our teacher; we were practicing a very basic move, and just like what happened years ago I messed it up. I was petrified. I put my hands over my face and started apologizing to Tonraq.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll do better!"

"Tarro. Tarro, it's okay. You'll get the hang of it. No one's rushing you." He responded.

My head shot up, and I stared.

"Y-you mean you're not gonna make me stay out all night until I get it right?"

"Now why, in the name of the Moon and Ocean, would I do something like that?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. If Tonraq had been Yakone, I would have been severely punished for being a weakling. But, I knew that Tonraq was not Yakone. Tonraq would never yell at me for messing up a form. And above all, Tonraq would never ever make me Bloodbend anyone or anything. That's why I was so enthusiastic when Tonraq and Senna came to visit us the first time since we had moved to the White Lotus compound. They ran up and hugged us. I couldn't remember Yakone ever hugging me, even before I was a Waterbender. The first thing Tonraq asked us when he saw us wasn't about Waterbending, he asked us if we were doing alright and if we were having fun and if we missed them. The answer to every one of those questions was 'yes'.

Noatak's POV:

Although it would have been nice to live outside of this compound, it was a better childhood than we had ever had. Despite all the rules and regulations, we managed to have time to be kids. I now see why the Avatar had been so unprepared for Republic City when she arrived in the future that I remember. Though these White Lotus people taught her how to use Bending to fight, they never taught her how to _survive_. Tarrlok and I had already had experience from our previous lives, and we both agreed that we would do whatever it took to make sure Korra was safe.

**Yet another chapter done. Incidentally, I am a Zutara/Taang-shipper but I will go with canon in order to back up this story as it has nothing to do with those ships. This is about Korra, Noatak, and Tarrlok; and none of the ships from the original show have anything to do with it. **


	4. Teenagers

Just Like the Good Old Days

**I don't own Legend of Korra.**

Teenagers

Noatak's POV:

I don't know when or how, but my teenage years hit. And they hit hard. I'd already been through puberty once, and now I had to go through it all over again. The body changes, the desire to rebel against authority, and the strange new feelings. The first time I had gone through this it had been bad enough, I had been awkward around other people my age because of the Bloodbending thing and it didn't help that girls found me attractive at the Northern Water Tribe. Whenever the White Lotus let us visit Tonraq and Senna, at least three Southern Water Tribe girls would gather together and look at me and giggle. Then came the most awkward part of growing up, the man-to-man talk. Tarrlok hadn't hit puberty just yet, so it was just me and Tonraq for the whole thing. He looked as uncomfortable as I was.

"Okay, Noak..um...it's time we talked about when a boy becomes a man."

I wanted to sink into the snow and die. It had been bad enough hearing this talk the first time. Let's just say that you don't want your dad to tell you about sex if he is a former Bloodbending crime-boss named Yakone. I don't even want to go into the horror that scarred me worse than any Bloodbending lesson. So just don't ask.

"Now listen, Noak..um..well..you see..when a boy gets to be about your age..he well...he starts to get..certain urges-"

"Um, sorry to interrupt, Tonraq, sir, but I already know."

"You do?"

I nodded.

"Oh, praise the Moon and Ocean! Thank you! I am not sure I could have gone through with 'the talk'. I'm not even gonna ask. I'm not gonna look a gift ostrich-horse in the mouth, as they say."

"Don't worry about Tarro either, I'll tell him when the time comes."

"Oh, would you? Thank the spirits."

Needless to say it went better than expected. There is one downside to all this, though. I have, as of late, been having 'certain dreams' about a 'certain Avatar'. Do you have any idea how awkward it is to fantasize about your former archenemy, who is now your best friend, like this? To fear going to sleep at night because you're worried that you'll dream about what she'd look like with her hair loose and blowing in the arctic wind, her eyes gazing at you longingly, her hands tangling themselves in your hair...okay, those thoughts don't help at all. At least that was one of my more modest dreams. It's even more awkward when I stop being a reformed forty-year-old leader of an Anti-Bending revolution that has been sent back in time and restored to his youth, and start being just a hormonally-driven teenage boy who has just started to get his sexual urges. And it really doesn't help that Korra has 'become a woman', her figure has started to come in as well as certain 'assets' that I can't help but notice. It's not as though I hadn't noticed how attractive Korra was in that other life, but I was _forty_ and she was seventeen. Matches like that haven't been made since before the ban on arranged marriages. I have been trying to force myself into repressing any and all sexual inclinations through self-denial, asceticism, meditation, and trying to stay as far away from Korra as I can when I've had the more explicit dreams about her.

Tarrlok's POV:

I couldn't believe it, _again_. Noatak goes from a care-free child to an angsty teen. I know that my 'reaching manhood' is just around the corner. I've started noticing girls more and more, though they usually only have eyes for Noatak, especially Korra. I don't know why, but seeing the way they look at each other makes me feel jealous. Why should Noatak get to be with Korra? He took her Bending in that other life! All I did was kidnap her and lock her in a metal box in an abandoned lodge. Okay, that didn't come out right. I just made myself sound like some kind of perverted old guy, and I was _never_ a pervert. I was a lot of things, a liar, a sneak, a weasel-snake of a politician, a manipulator, an oppressor, a fear-mongerer, an all-out-jerk even. But never a pervert. I really need to figure out what my feelings are for Korra. Is it friendship? A crush? Lust? No, that's not right, I don't even _have_ a sex-drive yet, I'm only twelve. It can't be full-fledged love, well I mean romantically speaking. Of course I love Korra, but is it in _that_ sense? I really need to do some serious thinking. All I know is that whenever I see her practicing her Bending, no matter the element, I get these weird feelings like butterflies in my stomach, and her smile makes me feel dizzy, and I stumble over the things I want to say to her.

Korra's POV:

I hate this, I really do. Noak and Tarro have always been my best friends. They've been like brothers to me ever since Mom found them in that blizzard. How could this have happened? How did Noak become so...attractive? I have just kept telling myself that he's just a boy version of me, we even wear our hair in the same style, for whatever reason. We're like twins or something...yes, that definitely helps. I will not think about any dreams I've had of him. Nope, nah, never, no. Dang it! Stupid hormones! Alright, Korra, focus on your Firebending. That's it, get all the hormonal nonsense out by setting things on fire.

Noatak's POV:

Childhood has gone by too quickly. I guess having too short a happy childhood is better than having too long a miserable one. I'm nineteen, Korra's seventeen, and Tarrlok is sixteen. I've really become an excellent healer, thanks to Master Katara. I've respected that old woman since the day I met her, and my admiration has only grown over the years. My favorite story that she told us was about when she challenged the law in the Northern Water Tribe that forbade women from learning Waterbending. She is a _real_ hero of equal rights. Instead of challenging every sexist custom of the Northern Tribe, she focused on a specific issue and the rest just fell into place. Ever since she overturned the discrimination against female Waterbenders in the Northern Water Tribe, the other injustices began to fall out of practice and now women have just as many rights as men in the North. Being taught by Master Katara has really opened my eyes to all the stupid decisions I made as Amon. In the end, I saw what I had been. A terrorist. An evil, oppressive, self-centered, cruel, heartless terrorist. No wonder my plans failed. The balance of the world rests on Korra's shoulders, not mine, not anyone else's. But that doesn't mean I can't help her carry the burden.

Korra's POV:

Oh my spirits. Was he looking at me? Please tell me Noak did _not_ just see me totally mess up that Firebending form. Oh, who am I kidding? He's been watching my every move since practice started this morning, of course he saw that. Wait a second. Why do I care what Noak thinks of my Firebending? He doesn't care about Bending, all he cares about is that I'm Korra. It wouldn't matter to him if I was the Avatar or not, all he sees is Korra. I moaned inwardly. And that's exactly _why_ I care about impressing him. No, Korra, you will not obsess over a boy. Especially with your big Firebending test coming up. After that, Master Tenzin will be moving here to teach me Airbending. And once I get that done, I will be a fully realized Avatar. Oh yeah! Who's the champ! That's right! This girl!

Oh, spirits. I did _not_ just do the victory dance in front of Noak, did I?...

**Am-on a roll here! Sorry, but I couldn't resist. I know, I hate puns too. **


	5. The Airbending Teacher

Just Like the Good Old Days

**I don't own Legend of Korra. Just a quick notice, I will be starting college on Wednesday so I won't be able to update that often. And one more thing, I like doing the multiple POVs so I will still be doing that.**

The Airbending Teacher

Noatak's POV:

I had to admit, I was impressed by the level of raw power that Korra possessed. If I hadn't used Bloodbending on her in that other life, I would most definitely have been a dead-man. She is truly amazing, I cannot believe I had ever wanted to destroy her. The notion just seems ridiculous now. She really was powerful, but just like in that other life, she lacked restraint. I could tell her Bending teachers thought so as well. But, nonetheless, she passed her Firebending exam. My heart suddenly picked up its pace at the sound of her triumphant cheer. I saw Tarrlok run over and hug her, and I felt a little twinge of jealousy. So, naturally, I went up to congratulate her as well.

"Hey, what's with the long face, Noak?" She asked me. "You look as gloomy as those old guys over there."

"Congratulations on passing your Firebending test, Korra." I said nervously. Every time I spoke to her I got nervous. I can't believe, after all these years, I haven't been man enough to even ask her out. I just can't get over how awkward it is. I know I'm not Amon anymore, but the memory of that other life still haunts me.

Korra gave that adorable pout, then got a big grin on her face. Before I knew what hit me, she had tackled me in a hug that knocked us both onto the floor. Tarrlok started to chuckle and I sent a glare his way. I could feel my face turning red with embarrassment.

"Come on, guys!" She declared. "Let's go see Naga."

I still couldn't believe that that polar bear-dog could carry all three of us. Ordinarily, the White Lotus sentries didn't like Korra leaving the compound, but they were much more willing when they knew we were with her. I have been offered the chance, several times, to be a White Lotus sentry, but I turned it down. I refuse to be anything less than Korra's friend, and I think those sentries are little more than prison guards.

Tarrlok's POV:

A few days after Korra passed her Firebending exam, Tenzin arrived, along with his family. The children were just as annoying as they had always been; luckily, the younger girl couldn't call me 'ponytail man' this time as I simply wore my hair tied back. I thought the three ponytails made me look too much like Yakone anyway. Master Tenzin really was a nice guy, I guess it helps that he didn't know who I had been in my other life. He greeted us all very cordially.

"Korra?" He greeted her first. "Look at you, so big and strong. You've grown into quite the young Avatar." He then turned to me and Noatak. "Noak, Tarro. You have both become fine young men. I hope you've been keeping Korra out of mischief." We've actually met Tenzin a few times over the years we've lived in the compound. He has been another father figure to us, in addition to Tonraq, and it was good to see him again. The spirits really do work in strange ways.

"Yes, sir, Master Tenzin." Noatak answered. "However difficult a task that may be."

Korra playfully nudged him with her elbow.

"Master Tenzin," Korra said, "I'm so glad you're here, I can't wait to get started."

"Yeah," I said, "we've all been waiting to see Korra Airbend."

"Yes, well..." Tenzin said. His wife, Pema, came forward.

"You're going to have to tell them sooner or later."

"Tell her what?" I asked.

"You're not staying, are you?" Master Katara inquired.

"Wait," Noatak spoke up, "why can't you teach Korra?"

"I'm afraid that we are only staying for the night, then I have to return to Republic City." Tenzin answered.

"But...No, you're supposed to move here." Korra responded. "You're supposed to teach me."

I hated hearing the disappointment in her voice. She really sounded as though he was letting her down, and that made me get angry.

"What's so important that it means Korra has to wait?" I demanded.

"Perhaps we should talk about this inside." He said, and we all followed him into the dining room.

We all seated ourselves at the table. The head of the White Lotus was there too.

"So," Korra turned to Tenzin again, "how long until you're ready to teach me Airbending? A week? A month?"

"It could be much longer." He replied.

"But why?" I asked again. "Isn't Korra's training the most important thing? She's the Avatar after all."

"I have a responsibility to Republic City." Tenzin answered. "I am one of its leaders, and the situation there is very unstable right now."

I'm sure Noatak and I were thinking the same thing at that point. I seriously doubted whatever was troubling Republic City was any worse than what happened in that other life.

"But," Noatak spoke up, "you do have an obligation to teach Korra."

"Believe me," Korra added, "I'd be happy to find another Airbending master, but you're the only one. We're stuck with each other."

"I wish there was another way." Tenzin said.

"What if Korra went to Republic City with you?" I asked.

"Yeah," Korra agreed, "that's _perfect_."

"Absolutely not!" The head of the White Lotus protested. "The city is far too dangerous! Avatar Aang tasked us with keeping you safe while you mastered the four elements."

"In Avatar Aang's instructions," I continued, "did he say anything about keeping Korra locked up in a compound like some sort of criminal?"

"And it's not like she's helpless." Noatak added. "And besides, we'll go with her."

The two older men scoffed at us.

"It's just not the right time for Korra to come to the city." Tenzin went on.

"Whatever." Korra said before she stood up to leave. Noatak and I followed after her.

Noatak's POV:

I will never understand how Master Katara is able to sneak up on us like that. And how did she even know we were sneaking out? Okay, maybe it was a little obvious, but still. I was even more amazed by the fact that she let us go and made no attempt to stop us.

"It's time for you and your generation to take over the responsibility of keeping peace and balance in the world." She said before hugging us. Master Katara was like a grandmother to us, all of us.

We all loaded up on Naga. Before we left the South Pole, we stopped by Tonraq and Senna's house. They hugged us goodbye and said how proud they were of us. I really will miss them. Before I knew it, the three of us and Naga were stowed away on a ship that was headed for Republic City. I felt more and more unnerved by the fact that I was heading to the scene of my crimes. I knew Tarrlok was also becoming uncomfortable by it as well. But it's not like the Equalists are still there, right? This is a different reality, right?

**Thanks for reading. Hope to update soon. (Oh, and just so you all know, that Noarralok option in that other chapter was a joke, mostly. I have decided that this will be Noarra, with a temporary one-sided Korrlok. There will also be fleeting Makorra, please forgive me, but it won't matter in the end.) I also want to add that I will be including the second season of LoK when it comes out, so that will be yet another thing to slow down the story. Goodnight everybody!**


	6. Blessing or Curse?

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Hey! I'm at college, but I'm back. Once again, I don't own Legend of Korra.**

Blessing or Curse?

Noatak's POV:

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I hoped that I would blink and this would all disappear. But no, there it was, the mask I had worn what now seems to have been a lifetime ago. It was the same mask, painted on a large banner that hung over the stand where a man was yelling about the Equalist movement. I must be in a nightmare, how was this even possible if I had been Amon? Something was wrong, so very wrong. Tarrlok seemed just as shocked as I was; we shared a look of fear and confusion that, thankfully, went unnoticed by Korra who had decided to confront the protestor.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded. "Bending is the coolest thing in the world."

I had a feeling that wouldn't go down well with the protestor.

"Oh yeah?" The man replied. "Let me guess, you're a Bender."

"Yeah, I am." Korra answered proudly.

"Then I bet you'd just love to knock me off this platform with some Waterbending, huh?"

"I'm seriously thinking about it."

That would _definitely_ not go well. The protestor used it as an example of Benders abusing their power. I fully expected Korra to go into a rage and resort to using her Bending, I guess some of my old prejudices are still there, but instead she just turned Naga around and the three of us left. Korra really impressed me by choosing to back down; I think that even _I_ wouldn't have been able to control my temper if I had been provoked like that. But nevertheless, something weird was happening and I didn't like it. How could there still be an Amon if I never became that person? Then it hit me, the worst possible scenario. The spirits hadn't sent me and Tarrlok back in time as an act of mercy, they had done it as a way to punish us; they had given us a new life, a life we had only ever dreamed of having, and then they throw us right back into witnessing our past crimes to remind us that we really don't belong in Korra's life like we wished we did. This is not our blessing, but our curse.

Tarrlok's POV:

After that shocking encounter with the Equalist protestor, that I'm sure Noatak was just as shocked about as I was, we soon ran into more trouble. As we were making our way to Air Temple Island, some thugs from the Triple Threat Triad started threatening a shopkeeper. Korra was not about to let those men get away with what they were doing.

"Or else what, hoodlum?" Korra interrupted the leader of the three men as he was in the middle of delivering his threat. The three men turned to look at her and began laughing; Noatak and I quickly stepped behind her in support.

"Since you three are obviously fresh off the boat, let me explain a few things." The leader replied. "You're in Triple Threat Triad territory, and we're about to put you in the hospital."

I snickered at the men; they obviously had no clue who they were dealing with.

"You're the only ones who are going to need a hospital." I said.

"And for your sake," Korra added, "I hope there's one nearby."

"Who do you think you are?" The leader demanded.

Korra waved me and Noatak back; she could handle this one herself.

"Why don't you come and find out."

It never gets old, seeing Korra take down a bunch of bad guys single-handedly, it's one of the many things I admire about her, how she never backs down and gives her all in a fight. Unfortunately, the Metalbender cops weren't as impressed as I was. I remembered in that other life that Korra had been arrested on her first day, and it seemed that Noatak and I would be sharing the experience with her. So the three of us were involved in an attempt to outrun the authorities on Naga, only to be captured and wind up in Chief Bei Fong's interrogation office.

"Let's see," Chief Bei Fong said as she began to read off our offences, "multiple counts of destruction of private and city property, not to mention evading arrest." She turned to me and Noatak. "Aiding and abetting." She slammed her clipboard down in front of us. "You kids are in a whole mess of trouble."

"But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper." Korra protested. "I had to-"

"Can it! You should have called the police and stayed out of the way."

"But I couldn't just sit by and do nothing; it's my duty to help people. You see, I'm the Avatar."

I could tell that Noatak had been tense throughout the duration of these events. I'm sure he had thought, in the past at least, that Korra never really took her role as Avatar seriously, that it had all been just a way for her to lord over other people, and now he was feeling guilty that he had thought that way about her. I guess you really _can't_ judge someone until you walk a mile in their shoes, and we've walked more than a mile.

"Oh, I am well aware of who you are." Chief Bei Fong continued. "And your Avatar title might impress some people, but not me."

"Alright, fine, then I'd like to talk to whoever's in charge."

"Korra, I think we _are_ talking to the person in charge." Noatak spoke up; he'd been very quiet until that point.

"Your little friend is correct." The Chief responded. "I'm Chief Bei Fong."

"Wait, Bei Fong? As in Lin Bei Fong?" Korra inquired. "You're Toph's daughter."

"What of it?"

"Well then, why are you treating me and my friends like we're criminals? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together."

"That's ancient history, and it's got diddly-squat to do with the mess that you three are in now. You can't just waltz in here and dole out vigilante justice like you own the place."

Just then, a visitor was announced. In walked Tenzin, I'd never thought I'd see the day when I'd be _happy_ to see him. He, on the other hand, looked none too pleased.

"Master Tenzin." Noatak greeted him with his usual air of respect.

"We kinda got a little sidetracked on our way to see you." Korra stated.

Tenzin managed to get us out of trouble, but at the price of making sure we would be heading back to the South Pole. We came all this way and now we were heading back to where we started? It was outrageous, and I couldn't understand why Noatak wasn't protesting as much as Korra and I both were. I guess he was still freaked out by the fact that the Equalists and Amon exist in this reality. I haven't quite figured out how that worked, but I'm sure it will come to me eventually.

Noatak's POV:

I was still in shock from what I had seen earlier, perhaps that's why I wasn't so upset about Tenzin sending us back to the South Pole, I just couldn't deal with this right now. I remembered how Korra had called me a coward in that other life when she challenged me to a dual, and perhaps I _am_ a coward. I've never really faced my problems; I've always run away because I was too frightened to deal with the issues that plague me. That's probably the biggest difference between me and Korra; I choose not to face my problems and try and find a way around them, she takes the initiative and charges at things head-on, both figuratively and literally.

When Tenzin changed his mind, I wasn't sure how to feel about it, until Korra pulled all of us into a group hug. The hope and desire to promote change in Republic City simply radiated off of her. I knew that we were needed here, not just Korra, but all of us. I remembered her speech to Republic City as clearly as the time I first heard it, it was strange to think that in my old hideout I was currently listening to the girl standing at that podium over the radio, making plans to destroy her. I know that I can't tell Korra anything about the future, for three reasons; one, she would probably think I had gone nuts, two, it could disrupt the order of time as we know it, and three, she needs to learn these things for herself without interference, that is the hardest reason of all for me to comply with. For now, Tarrlok and I will wait and watch, we won't allow anyone to hurt her, not even us.

**Yes, finally done with this chapter! Took forever! Please review.**


	7. Making Friends, Sort of

Just Like the Good Old Days

**I don't own the Legend of Korra.**

Making Friends, Sort of

Korra's POV:

It was early in the morning, I really hate the morning, and we had all gathered for breakfast. I was reading the newspaper's articles about Pro-Bending, which I think is totally awesome. Noak and Tenzin didn't seem to care, what's their deal? Tarro listened, but I think he wasn't as enthusiastic as I was. Later, we started my Airbending practice. I felt like such an idiot. It was so embarrassing to make a fool of myself in front of the guys, I could hear Tarro laughing, and I could sense that Noak was probably laughing on the inside. It just made me so mad with myself. I'm the Avatar! How could I not get this? This is so humiliating.

Noatak's POV:

I had to admit, it was pretty amusing seeing Korra attempt to overcome the Airbending gates. I would never laugh at her directly though, unlike Tarrlok who was cackling like a hyena-monkey. I knew she was embarrassed, of course she would be, she _is_ the Avatar, and the Avatar needs to master Airbending. I flashed back to when she defeated me in that other life; it seemed so hard to believe that she couldn't Airbend when that was the very element she used to send me through that window.

That evening, Korra was trying to Airbend at a newspaper that she had hung on a wire. When she didn't Airbend, she got frustrated and set the paper on fire.

"Aargh!" She exclaimed. "Maybe I'm just not cut out to be an Airbender, huh, guys?"

"You'll get it eventually, Korra." I reassured her. I knew better than anyone that she would learn Airbending. "You just need to be patient."

"You're starting to sound like Tenzin, Noak."

Just then, we all heard the sound of a Pro-Bending match on a radio. Korra led us over to where several of the White Lotus sentries were listening. I hadn't really cared about Pro-Bending; though I was surprised that Tenzin was against it, seeing as how Korra was on a Pro-Bending team in that other life. However, our little reverie was interrupted when the radio suddenly cut off and Tenzin called us down.

"You shut it off at the best part!" Korra and Tarrlok complained. Tarrlok didn't seem to be interested in Pro-Bending at first, but while we were listening he had become very absorbed in the match.

"I thought I made myself clear, I don't want you listening to this distracting nonsense." Tenzin said.

"To be fair," Tarrlok retorted with his usual politician's swagger, "it's _their_ radio." He pointed to the sentries. "And besides, you said we couldn't _watch_ a match, you never said anything about _listening_ to one." Korra snickered in response to Tarrlok's reasoning; he really had run circles around Tenzin with logic.

"You-You know what I meant! Anyway, shouldn't y-Shouldn't you three be in bed by now?"

Tarrlok's POV:

When we agreed to stay with Korra, we promised to go through the whole Airbending training with her, and that includes meditation. Noatak didn't have any problems with it, of course he didn't. Korra and I, on the other hand, were having immense difficulty focusing.

"I think I'm doing it wrong." Korra stated.

"There's nothing _to_ do." Tenzin responded irritably. "Let your mind and your spirit be free, for air is the element of freedom."

Korra started chuckling and I joined in when it dawned on me why it was so hilarious.

"Is something funny?"

"Yeah," Korra answered, "you're telling me to embrace freedom but you won't even let me and the guys listen to the radio. And forget about leaving this island."

"Please, Korra. Look at Meelo; he's able to meditate peacefully."

We both turned and saw the little Airbender drooling and making snot bubbles, it was really disgusting.

"Actually, I think he's asleep." I pointed out.

"What?" Tenzin said with surprise. "Well, at least he has the relaxing part down." Tenzin then shifted his gaze to my brother, who was completely motionless but obviously awake. "Noak is doing a good job at meditating, he's completely focused and not distracted."

"It would be easier if people weren't _talking_." Noatak said, surprising us. So he _was_ listening.

"Whatever," Korra stated, "none of this Airbending stuff makes any sense to me."

"I know you're frustrated," Tenzin continued, "but these teachings will sink in over time. Then one day, they'll just click."

Korra tried once again to meditate, it only lasted a few seconds and she gave up.

"Yeah, it's not sinking in yet. Come on, Tarro; let's go get a glass of lychee juice."

Korra and I got up and left. I was relieved to get away, it was so boring. We should be out fighting Equalists, not sitting around meditating.

"Korra! Tarro! The meditation's not over yet!"

"Man that was boring." I said.

"Yeah." Korra responded. "I really don't get the point of sitting around doing nothing."

"Doing nothing is a waste of time."

"Tell me about it." Korra then stopped. "Hey, how 'bout we sneak out to the Pro-Bending stadium tonight?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, do you think Noak would be interested in coming too?"

"Probably not, but knowing him he'll follow us, tell us we're idiots, and then stay throughout the duration of our adventure to make sure we don't do anything stupid."

"That does sound like him. So, where should we meet?"

Noatak's POV:

I knew they were sneaking out. Just because I don't Bloodbend anymore doesn't mean I'm not able to figure out what those two are up to. Not surprisingly, they were expecting me. Korra gave me one of her bone-crushing hugs, and whispered a greeting, and the three of us made our way through the water to the Pro-Bending stadium. We propelled ourselves to the stadium, using our Waterbending, and launched ourselves up to land inside an open window. We quickly Bended the water off ourselves and began to look around. The last time I had been at this arena was not a memory I liked to think about. Unfortunately, while we were walking, Tarrlok and I must have gotten distracted, because Korra seemed to have vanished. Tarrlok shook my shoulder.

"Noatak, where'd Korra go?"

"I was just wondering the same thing. Weren't you supposed to keep an eye on her?"

"Why are you pointing the finger of blame at _me_? _You're_ the one who tagged along to make sure we'd be okay!"

"Look, let's not argue. We should just focus on finding Korra."

"Excuse me." Came a voice; we turned and saw someone that neither of us knew exactly, but we had seen him with Korra in that other life. It was the Firebender, I couldn't for the life of me remember his name, but I do remember almost taking his Bending, twice. The first time he got away by shooting me full of lightning, the second time he got lucky because Korra unlocked her Airbending. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't particularly like him. "What are you doing back here?"

"We're…" I tried to quickly think up an excuse, I ended up deciding to tell the truth. "…our friend wandered off and we've just been looking for her."

"Well, it's not smart to be hanging around back here. If Toza sees you, he'll call security. Better come with me."

We followed him to a door, outside which there was another person waiting.

"Mako," the other guy addressed the Firebender, "who are these two?"

"Just some guys looking for their friend, Hasook. Come on, we've got a game." He turned to us. "I just have to play this match and I'll help you find your friend."

It turned out he didn't need to help us, because Korra was already inside the room.

"Korra?" Tarrlok and I inquired. She turned, when she saw us her face lit up with relief and she ran over to hug us.

"I was wondering where you two knuckle-heads wandered off to." She said.

I repressed the urge to retort that _she_ was the one who wandered off. The boy she had been waiting with came over.

"Oh, so these must be those friends that you told me about." He said. I recognized him as the other boy that Korra hung out with in that other life. "I see you two have already met my brother Mako."

"Mako?" Korra inquired as she turned to the Firebender. "Wow, I-I heard you playing on the radio."

"Come on, Bolin, we're up." Mako said, ignoring Korra.

"I guess I could meet him later."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Bolin said to her, "my brother just gets real _focused_ before a match. Okay, I gotta go, wish me luck. Not...that I'll need it."

"Good luck. Knock 'em out!"

I couldn't help but feel jealous; it was so obvious that that Earthbender was trying to impress her. As we watched the match, I found myself becoming fascinated by it. I couldn't believe that this was something I had tried to destroy, there was such an art to it, it was…thrilling. Before I even knew what had happened, I was standing beside Korra and Tarrlok cheering for the Fire-ferrets. The Fire-ferrets won the match thanks to that Mako person, when Korra congratulated him he just brushed her off like she wasn't important. I found myself _really_ not liking that guy. Naturally, Korra was still impressed by Pro-Bending and asked Bolin to show her some moves. This, of course, led to her revealing that she is not only a Waterbender, but an Earthbender and Firebender. Bolin must be very obtuse because he couldn't pick up on what was so obvious, but his brother wasn't so ignorant.

"You're the Avatar, and I'm an idiot." Mako said.

"Both are true." Korra responded. I couldn't help but crack a smile.

Tarrlok's POV:

The next day, Korra's Airbending practice went worse than ever before. It finally resulted in her burning and smashing the Airbending gates. This, obviously, did not sit well with Tenzin, who started shouting at her. Korra responded by yelling that Tenzin was just a terrible teacher, and then storming off. Noatak and I followed after her, to try and reassure her that she would get the hang of this eventually, but she was so angry I don't think anything we said registered with her. I really don't like seeing her so upset. That evening, Korra snuck out, so we had no choice but to follow her. We all went straight to where we met the Fire-ferrets the day before; only the two brothers were there, and they looked very downcast.

"Hey, we didn't miss your match, did we?" Korra asked. "You guys look like you lost already."

"We might as well have." Bolin answered.

"Hasook's a no-good no-show." Mako added.

Just then, the referee opened the door.

"You got two minutes to come out ready to play, or you're disqualified." He said, and then left.

"Well, there goes our shot at the tournament, and the winnings." Mako said bitterly.

"Can't you ask one of those guys to fill in?" Korra asked as she pointed at one of the other players.

"Nah," Bolin replied, "the rules say you can only compete on one team."

"Well, how 'bout one of us? We're all pretty decent Waterbenders."

"Shouldn't you ask us before volunteering us for stuff, Korra?" Noatak said.

"Yeah," I added, there was no way I could do Pro-Bending, I would just end up looking ridiculous, "I'm not going out there."

"Fine, you big babies," she concluded, "I'll do it."

"But, you're the Avatar," Bolin pointed out, "isn't that cheating?"

"It isn't cheating if I only do Waterbending."

"No way." Mako protested. "I'd rather forfeit than look like a fool out there."

Noatak and I both exchanged looks, we knew how well the Avatar played for her team in that other life, this Mako guy must be a serious idiot if he's going to pass up Korra as a teammate. Soon, the referee came back in to ask if they were going to play or not; before anyone else could answer, Korra volunteered. You know, thinking about it, maybe those two should've told Korra the rules of Pro-Bending _before_ they went out on the platform. I could just feel Korra's embarrassment each time she made a mistake. What neither of us expected, was Tenzin showing up. He really could've made his presence known in some other way than sneaking up on us like he did, and putting his hands on our shoulders like he had caught us doing something we shouldn't, which we technically were. I am surprised that Noatak didn't sense him coming; I guess he was too focused on the match to notice anything else.

"I expected something like this from Korra, but not the two of you. Come with me, we are going to get Korra and then we are all leaving."

We followed him down to where Korra was getting out of the pool after she had gotten knocked out of the ring. We went over and helped to pull her out, she was understandably shocked that we were there, even more so when she saw Tenzin standing behind us. This turned into an argument that ended when Korra declared that she didn't even need Airbending and that Pro-Bending was what she really needed to learn. Tenzin turned to us, but we weren't sure how to respond, so we just awkwardly stepped away and went back to where we had been watching the match. As soon as we got back, we saw that Korra had completely changed her fighting style; oddly enough it looked like she was using the Airbending technique that she had been trying and failing to learn. The result was that the Fire-ferrets won. Those two boys asked Korra to permanently join their team, and of course she accepted.

"Korra," Noatak said, "how are you going to explain this to Tenzin when we get back to the island?"

"Just leave that to me." She answered.

"He seemed pretty mad." I added.

"I told you, I got this." We didn't question her after that.

**Hey, everyone. I want to thank you for being patient, I have officially started my classes so it will be tricky to update frequently, but please bear with me. Thank you for your kind comments, love you all, and see you soon.**


	8. Painful Memories

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Hey, I'm back. And I don't own Legend of Korra. Oh, PS, I wrote a spin-off/one-shot based on one of Noatak's 'dreams' about Korra. Check it out.**

Painful Memories

Noatak's POV:

When Tarrlok and I went out to join everyone for breakfast, we saw that someone important was missing.

"Where's Korra?" I asked.

"Korra had an early morning training session at the arena." Tenzin answered.

"Why didn't she wake us up?"

"She said that she didn't want you two to have to suffer the 'evil that is the morning', as she called it, but she wants you two to hurry over there when you can."

Tenzin hardly had the chance to finish his sentence before Tarrlok and I were out the door and heading straight for the water. We arrived there in no time, and managed to come in just as an older man was leaving.

"Hey, guys!" Tarrlok called to them. I could sense there was something off in the atmosphere.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Turns out, we need thirty-thousand yuans in order to play in the tournament." Korra answered.

"What? Why?"

"It's for the Championship pot. And if we don't get the money, we don't get to play."

"That's hardly fair."

"So, _anyway_," Mako interrupted us, "how are we gonna come up with the money?"

"Oh, oh, I got it!" Bolin said with enthusiasm. "I've been training Pabu to do circus tricks. Now people would pay good money to see that!" As he spoke he held up an actual fire-ferret that I assumed is a pet of theirs.

"Come on, Bolin, we need _serious _ideas."

"I _was_ serious." Bolin muttered as he got a downcast look on his face. Mako could've tried being a bit nicer to his brother when he rejected his idea. Of course, I probably shouldn't throw stones as I took away my own brother's Bending in another life, but still.

"Don't worry, I'll figure something out, I always do."

Korra had to go back and do some Airbending training; she had been improving a great deal since she joined the Fire-ferrets. Tarrlok decided to go off and look around the city, of course he already knew his way around, but we couldn't exactly explain that to Korra.

Tarrlok's POV:

I wanted to do a little reminiscing so I took a stroll around downtown Republic City. Everything was exactly the way it was before; it was so weird being a stranger to a place that I had known for so long. I was shaken from my thoughts when I saw Bolin and his pet fire-ferret, Pabu, sitting beneath the statue of Fire Lord Zuko. Bolin was having Pabu do tricks, just as he suggested earlier. I approached in curiosity.

"He, Bolin, how's business treating you?"

"Oh, hey, Tarro. Not good, maybe Mako was right, maybe my idea was stupid."

"Don't say that, you shouldn't put yourself down just because your brother acts like he knows best."

Just then, a fancy satomobile pulled up, the man inside rolled down the window.

"Hey, Bolin, is that you?"

"Oh, hey there, Shady Shin." Bolin replied nervously.

Shady Shin got out of his satomobile and approached us.

"Heard you're a big time Pro-Bending player now. Not bad."

"Uh, thanks."

"So listen," Shady Shin whispered to Bolin, but he was loud enough that I could still hear what was being said, "I got an offer for you." He then noticed me. "Maybe your friend would be interested too." He continued to address both of us. "Lightning-Bolt Zolt is looking to hire some extra muscle."

"Uh, I don't know, Shin." Bolin replied. "Mako told me to stay away from the Triple Threats."

Triple Threats? This guy was offering me and Bolin the chance to work for the Triple Threats? No. No way. It would go against any remaining sense of moral decency I had left in my body.

"Pfft, your brother ain't the boss of you. It's just a little security work, nothing crooked."

How stupid did this guy think we were? Of course, Bolin caved when Shin tossed a wad of yuans into his donations cup.

"You game?"

"Uh, Bolin," I spoke up, "I _really_ don't think this is a good idea."

"You're more than welcome too, kid." Shin said to me as he shoved another wad of yuans into my hand. I knew that Bolin was going to go along with this for the sake of the Championship.

"Fine, I'll come, but it's only to help out my friend here." I gestured to Bolin who looked happy that I considered us to be friends. I had to admit, Bolin was a pretty fun guy so, yeah, I guess we're friends.

I felt _very_ uncomfortable in the hideout for this band of crooks, something just didn't feel right. I had a foreboding sense that something bad was going to happen. And of course it did. The last thing I remember seeing as Bolin and I were being taken away by the team of Equalist chi-blockers, was Korra and Noatak and Mako attempting to stop them.

Noatak's POV:

I had been having this weird feeling all day, like there was something that I had forgotten. It just wouldn't stop nagging at me. My theory was proven correct when Mako showed up asking about his brother, then it dawned on me that Tarrlok hadn't come back yet and he should've returned hours ago.

"Come to think of it, we haven't seen Tarro in a while." Korra said.

"We need to find them." I pointed out. "I have this really bad feeling that something's happened to them."

"We can take Naga."

"Who's Naga?" Mako asked.

"A friend of ours, and a great tracker."

We made our way along the street on Naga, I sat behind Korra and Mako sat behind me. I was keeping my eyes wide open for any sign of Tarrlok and Bolin but I still heard their small exchange.

"You friend is a…polar-bear-dog. Somehow that makes perfect sense."

"I'll take that as a compliment, city-boy."

Soon we arrived at the statue of Fire Lord Zuko.

"Well, this is Bolin's usual hang-out." Mako stated as we all dismounted. He made his way over to where a group of street-urchins were goofing around. "Any of you guys seen my brother around here lately?"

"Perhaps." One of the kids said. "My memory's a little…foggy. Maybe you can help 'clear it up'."

"You're good, Skoochy. A real pro." Mako said sarcastically as he handed the boy a yuan.

"Yeah, I've seen him."

"When?"

"About noon."

"What was he doing?"

"He was performing some kind of monkey-rat circus when some Water Tribe boy showed up. They seemed to know each other; I think the guy's name was Tarro. And then…"

Mako handed the boy another yuan.

"And then what?" I asked rather impatiently. "Why did they leave?"

"Shady Shin showed up and flashed some serious cash. Bo and the other guy took off with him in his hot rod. The Triple Threats, the Red Monsoons, the Agni Kais, all the triads are muscling up for something real big. Now that's all you're getting outta me!" With that, Skoochy took off with the other kids.

I felt as if the world had stopped moving. Surely Tarrlok wouldn't be so stupid as to get involved in a turf war? And then it hit me what day it was. It was the day before the Revelation, and I had given the order to capture the Triple Threat Triad. And now Tarrlok and Bolin were about to be taken away by…well…by me, or at least the _other_ me. We didn't waste a moment and got right back on Naga. Suddenly, Naga started to charge at something and I held onto Korra's waist to keep from flying off; when we finally stopped, I noticed that it was that fire-ferret that belonged to Mako and Bolin.

"It's Pabu!" Mako declared.

"No, Naga." Korra said. "Pabu's a friend, not a snack."

The little creature scurried over and settled itself on Mako's shoulders.

"We gotta hurry."

Eventually we arrived at the Triple Threat headquarters. While Korra and Mako tried to stealthily creep up to the door, I knew it would be a waste of time and charged up and slammed the door down and made my way towards the back, ignoring their astonished looks. I felt panic rush through me when I heard the sound of an engine roaring, and I ran as fast as I could. I saw Tarrlok and Bolin inside the truck, they looked absolutely terrified. The chi-blockers dropped those canisters that create a smoke-screen, and I couldn't see anything. Korra called for Naga, and soon we were in pursuit. Of course I knew that all efforts to stop them would be futile, but that didn't stop me from trying to fight when the chi-blockers tripped up Naga and the three of us had to fight. I still remembered everything I had learned about chi-blocking and was able to skillfully dodge any and all attacks. We were eventually overpowered, but luckily Naga charged up and scared off the remaining chi-blockers.

"I can't Bend. I can't Bend!" Korra shouted as she desperately tried to Firebend.

"Calm down, it'll wear off." Mako reassured her. "Those guys were chi blockers. They're Amon's henchmen."

I cringed at the word 'henchmen', it made me think I sounded like a villain in a children's story.

"Amon?" Korra inquired.

"Don't you remember, Korra?" I asked. "He's the leader of the Equalists; we saw one of his protestors when we first showed up in Republic City." Then an idea struck me, a way to show them where Tarrlok and Bolin had been taken without making it seem too obvious.

"What do they want with the Triple Threats?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good." Mako replied. "I can't believe Bolin got himself into this mess!"

"Don't act like you're the only one who's upset by this." I told him. "My brother got taken too, and I am not going to let those guys get away with this." I was finally seeing things through the eyes of the people I had attacked in that other life; the idea that Tarrlok would get hurt, again, and have his Bending taken away by me, again, made me very angry and scared. "Clearly we have no idea where they went, but I think I know how we can find out."

We headed for the park and sat down near to where that protestor would be the next day.

"So, you think this protestor will know where Bolin and Tarro are?" Mako asked me.

"It's the only lead we have." I replied.

"So, why is Bolin running around with the Triple Threat Triad, anyway?" Korra inquired.

"Well, we…we used to do some work for them back in the day…" Mako answered a little nervously.

"What? Are you some kind of criminal?"

"No! You don't know what you're talking about. I just ran numbers for them and stuff. We were orphans out on the street; I did what I had to do to survive and protect my little brother."

"I'm sorry. It must have been really hard. Can I ask what happened to your parents?"

"They were mugged, by a Firebender. He cut them down right in front of me. I was eight."

So, that was his story? Ironic, really, isn't it? He actually lost his parents to a Firebender, but he doesn't feel upset by the fact that he himself is one; and yet I was the one who lied about my past and had developed a desire to eliminate Bending altogether. Korra soon slipped off into sleep and I put my arm around her; she was just as worried as I was about Tarrlok, I knew the two of them were very close and she hated the thought that he was in danger. Eventually, I found myself drifting off to sleep. We were awoken by the sound of that very annoying protestor making his declarations about equality, well…screaming them into a megaphone, anyway. I gently shook Korra awake, Mako woke up on his own, and I pointed in the direction of the protestor.

"That would be the guy we're looking for." I stated.

When we approached, the protestor was less than pleased to see us.

"You cannot silence me, Avatar!"

Korra responded by swatting the megaphone out of his hand.

"Shut your yapper and listen up." She said irately. "Some friends of mine got kidnapped by some chi blockers. Where'd they take them?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do."

Korra Earthbended the platform that the protestor had been standing on up, causing him to fall off and a bunch of pamphlets to go flying. I knew exactly what those were and snatched a few.

"'Witness the Revelation tonight, nine o' clock.'" Mako read from one of the pamphlets. "What's this 'Revelation'?"

"Nothing that concerns the likes of you three!" The protestor responded.

"You better believe it concerns us, spill it." Korra demanded as she grabbed the man by the front of his shirt.

"No one knows what the Revelation is! And I have no idea what happened to your friends. But if they're Benders, then my bet is they're getting what's coming to them."

I couldn't believe that I had had followers who were so obnoxious; okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration as there is always an exception, but still.

"Where's it happening?" Mako asked.

Unfortunately, we didn't get our answer as a police officer showed up and we had to bail out. We eventually came to Republic City station; I had to find a way to get Korra and Mako to go to the rally without being too obvious that I knew where it was.

"Why didn't the Equalists put a location on these?" Korra asked.

"Probably because they didn't want just anybody waltzing into their big 'Revelation', whatever that is." Mako answered. "I bet the information is hidden on here somehow."

"Hey, guys." I said. "I think I've got it." I held up one of the pamphlets that had the dot on it that showed where the location was, and put it up next to the map of Republic City that we were standing next to.

"That _must_ be where it is! Noak, you're a genius!" Korra exclaimed as she hugged me and I felt myself puff up with pride a little.

"I try."

I was not going to let anything happen to Tarrlok, as soon as I got him out of danger I was going to hug him, and then I was going to start yelling at him for doing something so stupid in the first place. Of course I knew that my other self would never 'hurt' him, he would still take away his Bending and I don't think Tarrlok would be happy about having to go through that a second time, to say the least of the explaining I would have to do if I needed to use my Bloodbending to restore his Bending.

Tarrlok's POV:

I was terrified, almost as terrified as I had been the last time Noatak had been about to take my Bending away. Bolin looked so scared I thought he would wet himself, and that is not a pleasant thought. I resisted the sudden urge to laugh as Amon, or rather the _other_ Noatak, told his phony story to everyone while Bolin and I were being held off-stage with the members of the Triple Threat Triad. When we were led onto the stage, I felt the glares of all those Non-Benders boring into me with indescribable hatred. I guess I did sorta deserve it; after all I did in that other life. But I learned my lesson! I thought the point of all this was that we were being shown _mercy_ for our mistakes. When Amon, or Noatak, saw me I sensed that he recognized me at least a little, I simply glared at him in response in an attempt to say "You big jerk, let me out of here! You're no better than Yakone!" with my eyes. But, he just proceeded with his little 'show', and I realized that he was taking the Bending of every person on that stage except for me. When he finally got to Bolin, the poor kid tried to point out that it was a misunderstanding. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, there's no way he could talk himself out of that situation, we were so done for. At least, that's what I thought, until a miracle in the form of a cloud of steam filled the room. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You okay, bro?"

"Yes! Thank you! You're the best big brother ever!" I completely forgot in that moment that he was the big brother that had been about to take my Bending away, _again_. We hurried out of there as fast as we could. We ran into a little trouble when we met up with the other two boys, as the four of us were attacked by that Lieutenant guy who electrocuted the ladder we were on. Luckily, rescue came in the form of Korra, and we managed to get out _relatively_ unscathed. When we made our way back to Air Temple Island, after dropping Mako and Bolin off at the Pro-Bending arena, I noticed that Korra was pretty freaked out. Oh, right, that's because she was terrified by Amon's (Noatak's) ability to take away people's Bending. I was shaken from my observations when Noatak suddenly grabbed the front of my shirt.

"Are you insane? What were you thinking going off with the Triple Threats like that? And then you went and got captured! Do you know how worried we were?"

I responded by giving him a look that said "Are you fricking serious? Do you _not_ remember who it was who had just tried to take my Bending?"

"I only went because I wanted to make sure that our friend Bolin wouldn't get hurt. I tried to talk him out of it, but he kinda stopped listening when that Shady Shin guy tossed him some yuans. Oh, I got paid too, here's your share." I handed him the money I had gotten from Shady Shin, and he looked at me confused. "What, he may have been a crook but his yuans are still good."

Noatak's expression was unreadable, I loved confusing him like that, it was so funny. Anyway, back to Korra. She really did look freaked out; when Noatak realized that as well, he put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. The boat finally pulled up to the island, now to explain to Tenzin where we had been all last night and the day before.

**Hey, everyone. Thanks for your patience with me. I think I'm going to reconsider having any Makorra at all in the story, as I have yet to see how I can work it into the plot. My idea was to have Mako have a crush on Korra, and she kinda likes him but only because she isn't sure how Noatak/Noak feels about her. Anyway, drop me a review, tell me what you think, and the next one is a personal favorite of mine. Catch ya later.**


	9. Attention! Important News!

***Redbayly does not own Legend of Korra.***

**Redbayly: Hey, everyone! This is a shout-out to the people on tumblr. I recently learned that a dedicated member of the Amorra fanclub, by the name of Sensualpenguin, has been going through a hard time lately.**

**Korra: So, we're all here today to give her a shout-out.**

**Redbayly: Even though I'm not an 'official' member of the S.S. Amorra on tumblr (I barely even know how to use tumblr, so if someone could post a link here I would be forever grateful), I still keep a watchful eye on Amorra posts. When I heard that such a wonderful Amorra-shipper was sad, I decided to make a dedication page to both her and any other Amorra-shippers…**

**Teen! Tarrlok: Or Korrlok-shippers.**

**Redbayly: Who are going through any problems right now. We're all here, all our fav characters from LoK, with a special message.**

**Tenzin:*Hugging his family* You taught us to realize what is most important to us.**

**Lin: And to be strong through our problems as they help us grow.**

**Tahno: You showed us that being who you are is fabulous. *Hairbends***

**Jinora: And the value of sharing stories with those around you…**

**Ikki: That asking questions is funnier if you don't take in one breath while you do it.**

**Mako: You taught us that just because something's a big deal in canon, doesn't mean everyone is going to jump on board with it.**

**Teen! Noatak: You showed us that even the worst of enemies…**

**Korra:*Holds his hand* Can become the best of friends. **

**Adult Tarrlok: And that while kidnapping is illegal, it still makes great fanfiction material.**

**Bumi: You taught us to laugh and have fun…**

**Kya: And that messing with your siblings is hilarious…**

**Skoochy: That being cute can get you anywhere, even if you're a one-time character.**

**Bolin: That you'll always have your friends…**

**Iroh II: And the potential for **_**new**_** friends.**

**Asami: That looks are deceiving, but **_**sometimes**_** that's a good thing…**

**Korra: To stay strong in our resolve, even when others doubt us…**

**Teen! Tarrlok: That you can learn to move on, and you should do it in healthy, non-explosive ways…**

**Second Season Characters: And the value of surprises.**

**Aang: We will always be here for you…**

**(Yue: *Winks* Even if you don't see us…)**

**Tonraq and Senna: And we are so proud of how far you've come…**

**Katara: And how far you will go…**

**Pema: So don't be afraid to be yourself…**

**Ikki: Share laughs and smiles…**

**Jinora: And your wonderful stories…**

**Meelo: Be the leaf…**

**Amon/ Adult Noatak: There will be no more Tearbending.**

**All: We love our fans and followers. Feel better, Sensualpenguin. **

**Redbayly: And now it's time for my own little added flair, song-time. I chose the following song, because it always makes me feel happy, even if it seems totally random. I present, the cast of LoK, singing "Bless us all" from 'A Muppet Christmas Carol'. *Most people probably know it, but if you don't, look it up on YouTube***

***Music Starts***

**Korra: *Places arms around Teen! Noatak and Teen! Tarrlok's shoulders* **_**Life is full of sweet surprises…**_

**Teen! Noatak: **_**Every day's a gift…**_

**Teen! Tarrlok: **_**The sun comes up…**_

**Tahno: **_**And I can feel it lift...my spirit…**_

**Ikki: **_**Fills me up with laughter…**_

**Jinora: **_**Fills me up with song…**_

**Tonraq:*Looks at Senna* **_**I look into the eyes of love…**_

**Senna: **_**And know that I belong…**_

**All: **_**Bless us all, who gather here…**_

**Tenzin and Pema: **_**The loving family I hold dear…**_

**Mako and Bolin: **_**No place on Earth compares with home…**_

**Teen! Noatak and Teen! Tarrlok: **_**And every path will lead me back from where I roam…**_

**All: **_**Bless us all, that as we live…**_

**All characters that have experienced betrayal: **_**We always comfort and forgive…**_

**Iroh II: **_**We have so much that we can share…**_

**Asami: **_**With those in need we see around us everywhere…**_

**All: **_**Let us always love each other…**_

**Korra:*Produces a flame in her hands* **_**Lead us to the light…**_

**Adult Tarrlok and Adult Noatak: **_**Let us hear the voice of reason…Singing in the night…**_

**Teen! Noatak: **_**Let us run from anger…**_

**Teen! Tarrlok: **_**And catch us when we fall…**_

**Aang: **_**Teach us in our dreams, and please, yes please…**_

**All: **_**Bless us one and all.**_

**Korra: **_**Bless us all with playful years…**_

**Bumi and Kya: **_**With noisy games…**_

**Lin:*Looks at Tenzin and his family* **_**And joyful tears…**_

**All: **_**We reach for you and we stand tall…**_

**Tenzin: **_**And in our prayers and dreams we ask you…bless us all…**_

**All: **_**We reach for you and we stand tall…**_

**Korra: **_**And in our prayers and dreams, we ask you, bless us all.**_

**Redbayly: Thanks for stopping by. I know I already asked this, but will someone **_**please**_** post a link to this on tumblr as I have **_**no clue**_** how to do it myself. Thanks. Oh, and tonight I will be introducing my roommate to the Avatar the Last Airbender series, so wish me luck. Love you all. Bye.**


	10. You're Safe

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Hey, hey. I've been waiting forever for this one; this and the one after this are two of my favs. Anyway, I don't own Legend of Korra or the lyrics to "Protecting Me". Oh, this is just a reminder to check out my spin-off/one-shot, I would like more reviews on that, it's entitled "Noatak's Dream" and you can find it on my profile.**

_You  
You're always there for me  
When I need you most  
Day and night you're by my side  
Protecting me_

_When I feel like crashing down_  
_You seem to be around_  
_There you are_  
_You're not that far_

_'Cos whenever wherever baby_  
_You'll protect me_  
_No matter what_  
_Hold me tight_  
_With all your might_  
_And you'll never let me go_  
_Protecting me_

_You_  
_You listen to me when_  
_I speak out loud and you_  
_You know right when my heart's been bent_  
_When my life's tumbling around_  
_You take me off the ground_  
_You tell me everything's ok_

_Whenever where ever baby_  
_You'll protect me_  
_No matter what_  
_Hold me tight_  
_With all your might_  
_And you'll never let me go_

-"Protecting Me" by Aly and AJ

You're Safe

Noatak's POV:

I had been having nightmares lately, the kind that caused me to wake up with a scream. I dreamt that I was watching my older self take away Korra's Bending and I couldn't do anything to stop it. It made me feel awful, sickened with myself; it made me more uncomfortable around Korra than when I had had dreams of an 'intimate' nature about her, luckily those had subsided, mostly. I got out of bed, it was the middle of the night, I saw Tarrlok shift uncomfortably in his sleep, no doubt he was having bad dreams too. Of course he would. I decided to walk over to Korra's room to see if she was sleeping okay. The temple made me feel very nervous, even if it was supposed to be a haven of peace, it creaked and had strange shadows at night that put me a little on-edge, of course I was used to being on-edge but it's different when you think your past self is out to get you or someone you care about. When I was outside Korra's room, I heard a loud gasp that bordered on a scream; I instantly flung open the screen door.

"Korra, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine, Noak. J-just a bad dream."

"You too?"

Korra looked at me and I went in and sat down next to her.

"I had a pretty bad dream, that's why I'm here, I was…worried."

Korra gave a small smile and hugged me and I hugged back. I hated how I was scared, I hated that _she_ was scared, I hated that everyone was scared because of _me_.

"What was your dream about?" Korra murmured.

"I'd rather hear yours."

"Nah, you go first."

I let out a sigh; when Korra asked me to tell her something I couldn't say no, I don't know what it was about her that just made me want to open up.

"Very well; I dreamt that I was sleeping and I heard noises in the hall, I poked my head out and saw dark figures, I tried to follow them but they attacked me." I didn't tell her the rest as I was certain that it would make her more scared. Yes, that is how the dream started, but I neglected to mention how I had followed the figures towards her room and was captured and dragged inside to watch as my past-self took away her Bending.

"Oh," she responded, "uh…yeah…that's a lot like what happened to me." I sensed that she was leaving stuff out just as I had done; only she was much more obvious about it.

The following evening, Korra was practicing her stances while Tarrlok and I were standing on the side, listening to the radio, when suddenly the music went static and an all-too-familiar voice came on."

"Good evening, my fellow Equalists. This is your leader Amon. As you've heard, the Republic Council has voted to make me public enemy number one, proving once again that the Bending oppressors of this city will stop at nothing to quash our revolution. But we cannot be stopped. Our numbers grow stronger by the day. You no longer have to live in fear. The time has come for Benders to experience fear."

As my other-self spoke over the radio, Tarrlok and I noticed that Korra had a terrified look in her eyes. Sweat was dripping down her face, and I was certain she was shaking. I couldn't believe I had had such an effect on her, I felt guilt wash through me like a wave.

The next evening, it was dinner time and Tarrlok refused to get out of bed. He'd been having trouble with sleep as most of us had, but he had decided to replace it with taking extended naps during the day. Now he was just being stubborn.

"Come on, we have to go to dinner. It would be rude not to show up."

"Mmph." Tarrlok mumbled into his pillow. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on," I said as I grabbed him by his ankles, "up you get."

Tarrlok let out an irritated whine, but I just kept pulling until he slumped to the ground.

"This would be easier if you would just cooperate."

"I wouldn't even _be_ in this situation if you hadn't been doing all that fear-mongering and anti-Bending stuff. As far as I see, this is all _your_ fault."

I knew his words were true, but he probably only said that because he was cranky about his bad night's sleep. I pulled him up to his feet by the scruff of his parka; it had been getting colder lately so we had begun to sleep wearing our parkas. He grudgingly relented, giving me that pout of his; I could swear that Korra uses the same pout when she wants to get her way. And we eventually managed to make our way to the family dining room, where we were met with quite the surprise.

Tarrlok's POV:

We had just walked into the dining room, and Noatak was apologizing for us being late, when we caught sight of a visitor. I began to feel awkward at seeing my older self here in this temple, oh, that's right; I was here to recruit Korra for my task-force. I mentally slapped myself; I should've stayed in bed. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Hey, boys!" Ikki, the youngest of the Airbender kids exclaimed as she rushed over to us, bombarding us with questions. "Why are you late for dinner? Did you know we have a visitor? Was Tarro sleeping late again? Noak, why do you always wear a ponytail like Korra? You know it makes you look girly."

Noatak and I ignored the barrage of questions, and proceeded to go and sit by Korra, I sat on her left and Noatak sat on her right, we were both trying to ignore the curious looks that my older self was giving us. It's so weird to see yourself the way other people see you.

The older me then came over to us, though he/I was mostly focused on Korra, I couldn't help but notice that he was interested in finding out who me and Noatak were.

"You must the famous Avatar Korra. It is truly an honor. I am Councilman Tarrlok, representative from the Northern Water Tribe."

"Nice to meet you." Korra replied.

Noatak rolled his eyes and I shot him a glare. Say what you will, my older self has some serious charm. Then, Ikki leaned over the table and looked at my older self curiously.

"Why do you have three ponytails? And how come you smell like a lady? You're weird." She said, I knew that Noatak was struggling not to laugh. I remembered how Korra had had a similar reaction to me when Noatak and I appeared in the South Pole all those years ago.

"Well, aren't you…_precocious_?" My older self stated. Ikki continued to glare at him/me, while he turned his attention back to Korra. "So, I've been reading all about your adventures in the papers. Infiltrating Amon's rally, now _that_ took some real initiative."

"Well, Noak over here did most of the work, he figured out how to find the rally." Korra responded as she gestured to Noatak, who just shrugged as if it was nothing. I care about my brother, but sometimes he can act like a smug bastard (pardon my language). I noticed that Korra was starting to get a questioning look on her face as her eyes darted from me to the other me.

"Well," my older self continued, "Republic City is certainly much better off now that you and your friends have arrived."

"Enough with the flattery, Tarrlok," Tenzin said irately, "what do you want from Korra?"

"Patience, Tenzin, I'm getting to that."

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" I spoke up drawing everyone's attention. "He wants her to join his taskforce, am I right, Councilman?"

"Uh…yes, that is correct, how did you…?"

"Let's just say I'm pretty good at guessing."

Noatak scoffed at me.

"Yeah, you did such a great job _guessing_ your way into getting kidnapped by Equalists." He said sarcastically.

"Hey, that was _not_ my fault."

"Boys," Tenzin said in a serious tone, "kindly cease your fighting, we are in a place of peace."

"Yes, Master Tenzin." We both said in synchronization.

"Anyway," the older me continued to speak to Korra, "I need someone who will help me attack Amon directly, someone who is fearless in the face of danger. And that someone is you."

"Join your taskforce? I can't." She replied calmly.

Everyone stared at her in shock except for me and Noatak.

"I must admit, I'm rather surprised. I thought you'd jump at the chance to help me lead the charge against Amon."

"So did I." I heard Tenzin mutter to himself.

"I didn't." I said.

"Me neither." Noatak added.

"I came to Republic City to finish my Avatar training with Tenzin. Right now, I just need to focus on that." Korra stated.

"Which is why this opportunity is perfect, you would get on the job experience while performing your Avatar duty for the city." The older me explained. "And I'm sure that if you joined, your two friends here would be willing to accompany you."

"We'd follow Korra to the ends of the Earth." I whispered, though I was sure that my older self heard me.

"Korra gave you her answer; it's time for you to go." Tenzin said.

"Very well," the older me said, "but, I'm not giving up on you just yet. You'll be hearing from me soon. It has been a pleasure, Avatar Korra." As he left, I noticed he gave one final look at me and Noatak.

"Bye-bye, Ponytail-man." Ikki exclaimed.

I knew we would not be seeing the last of me.

Korra's POV:

Something weird was going on, I was _certain _that I knew Tarrlok from somewhere before. Truth be told, I think he looked a lot like an older version of Tarro; they looked like they could even pass as father and son. Weird, huh? I got this feeling that Tarro and Noak were hiding something, or they knew more than they were letting on, just the awkward way they had been interacting around Tarrlok. Noak and Tarro _did_ have a mysterious past that they never talked about, and I've got this crazy theory that maybe Tarrlok is their long-lost dad or something. Does that sound like reasonable logic? It does to me.

Well, on another matter, I've been missing out on Pro-Bending practice all this week, I bet Mako's going to get ticked with me when I come back. I don't know why, but I've been finding I like Mako a lot; at first, he was so infuriating, but I think I might be developing some feelings for him. He's pretty cute, and strong, and he hasn't been a friend of mine my whole life so I don't see him as a brother. Maybe I shouldn't give up so easily on Noak, but he never really gives off any indication that he likes me as more than a friend or an adopted sister, so why shouldn't I notice attractive guys that aren't him? Wait, maybe I need to rephrase that.

Tarrlok's POV:

We had just been sitting around on the temple steps, hanging out with Bolin, who had shown up to thank Korra for saving his Bending, when my squeaky-voiced assistant from my other life came up to us.

"Tarrlok sends his compliments and urges you to reconsider his offer." He said as he handed Korra a large gift-basket, the same as the one I had sent her in that other life.

"Tell him I haven't changed my mind." Korra responded.

The assistant then left.

"Who's this Tarrlok guy?" Bolin asked Korra. "Is he bothering you? Huh, 'cause I could have a word with him."

"Heh, no it's not like that. He's just some old guy who works with Tenzin on the council."

I started choking on glass of lychee juice. _Old_? She thought I was _old_? I just knew that Noatak was laughing inside, again, he never laughs at people to their faces.

"Oh, good, good, that sounds better, I like that better." Bolin replied.

Just then the assistant came back, this time carrying two extravagant gift-baskets.

"Tarrlok also asked me to give these to your two friends." The assistant said as he set down the baskets in front of me and Noatak before leaving again.

Noatak shot me a look, and I just shrugged in response.

"I guess Tarrlok's out to get you guys on his side too." Korra said.

"He probably just thinks that we might try to encourage you to join that taskforce." Noatak said. It did seem like the type of thing I would do.

Eventually, the invitation to the gala came, and Noatak and I had to go shopping for some suits while Korra went to find a nice dress. I found a decent suit, the coat was navy-blue with a light-blue under-jacket, it was a simple style but nice; Noatak got himself an ensemble similar to mine in style, only it was all in a rich ocean-blue except for the white shirt. When Korra came out of the dress section, I recognized the dress she wore as being exactly the same as the one she had worn to the gala in in the other life. This was going to make for an interesting evening.

Noatak's POV:

We entered the gala with wide eyes; my little brother had certainly spared no expense when he held this gala. In the other life, I had relied on my informants that had attended the gala to give me information on what had happened; I knew right away that this whole thing was a set-up, and I resolved to do all I could to keep Korra away from anything potentially threatening. Speaking of which, the older Tarrlok came up to greet us.

"So glad you could make it, Avatar Korra." He greeted her, throwing a side-glance at me and the younger Tarrlok, this was getting really confusing. I instinctively locked arms with Korra so as to make sure we wouldn't get separated in the crowd; such a thing would give the older Tarrlok an opportunity to isolate her and lead her to the reporters. "And I see you brought your friends, the more the merrier." I rolled my eyes, even if I hadn't known his whole scheme it was still transparent enough that I would know not to let my guard down. Tarrlok (the younger one) was looking very anxious; I knew how awkward this whole situation was for him. The older Tarrlok proceeded to lead the three of us over to meet people, eventually we were introduced to Hiroshi Sato, and the awkward just kept on coming. Just then, who should walk up to us but Mako, who was arm-in-arm with Asami Sato, Hiroshi's daughter.

"It's lovely to meet you. Mako's told me so much about you." Asami said to Korra.

"Really? Because he hasn't mentioned you at all. How did you two meet?" Korra inquired, I sensed a note of jealousy in her tone. She was jealous that Mako was clearly with Asami? The notion irked me, _greatly_.

"Asami crashed into him on her moped." Bolin said, appearing out of nowhere.

"What? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mako replied, "more than fine. Mr. Sato agreed to sponsor our team; we're back in the tournament."

"Isn't that great?" Bolin exclaimed.

"Yea, terrific." Korra answered with very little enthusiasm. Korra didn't seem to feel any better when the older Tarrlok accosted Chief Bei Fong and reintroduced the two women, and Bei Fong proceeded to deride Korra. I sensed that it was getting close to the time when the older Tarrlok was going to get Korra over to the reporters; I looked over at the younger Tarrlok who seemed to read my thoughts and nodded. I knew that there would be only one way to keep Korra away from the older Tarrlok, and I swore I would never resort to this measure unless it was _absolutely_ necessary.

"Korra," I said, "would you care to dance with me?"

She gave me a look of absolute befuddlement.

"Uh…you dance?" She asked. I could feel my cheeks turning red. I knew the annoying Firebender…I mean _Mako_, was glaring at me. What was his problem? Isn't he already dating that Asami girl? It certainly looks that way.

"Yes, I have some experience dancing."

"And where was I when you learned that, because I certainly don't know how to dance."

I took her hand and began to lead her towards the dance-floor.

"It's easy, and I'll help you." _Spirits_, I swore I would never ever do this again, but it's too late to back out now.

Tarrlok's POV:

"Save the next dance for _me_!" I called after them. As they walked away, my face fell. So, once again my brother is favored over me. I should've seen it coming. It didn't hurt as horribly as I thought it would, but it was still a little bit of an injury to my pride at least. My older self turned to me.

"So, how long have you and your brother been friends with Avatar Korra?" He asked.

"Since we were children. Korra's mom found us lost in a blizzard." I answered. I noticed him flinch when I mentioned the blizzard.

"So, I know your brother's name but I don't recall being told _your_ name." I could feel him looking at me in curiosity, like I was some sort of freak from the circus, it just made this so much worse.

"I'm Tarro."

"So, Tarro, are you originally from the South Pole like our dear Avatar?"

"No, Noak and I grew up in the Northern Tribe." Idiot! You shouldn't be revealing so much truth! "We sorta…ran away…"

"Oh really, and why did you do that?"

"Uh…I…we…hey look a hog-monkey!" I shouted and then ran for it. I knew that was a bad escape attempt, but I don't make good decisions under pressure. I then looked around for Korra and Noatak; when I saw them they were still on the dance-floor. I hadn't seen Noatak dance in years, not since that other life, and he had had to stop when dad found out. That was not a pleasant day for either of us, and I don't wish to dwell on it. I don't think I'd ever seen Noatak look so happy before, not even during our second childhood, he was blushing like a fool and had a dopey grin on his face. Korra was also blushing, and she seemed much happier than she did earlier. Even though I envied my brother, I couldn't help but feel happy for him.

Korra's POV:

I couldn't believe it, Noak was dancing with me, and he was…good. I felt like I had two left feet compared to him, but he didn't even wince when I accidentally stepped on his foot. I felt heat start to rise in my cheeks when he put his hand on my waist and pulled me close to him. I felt so incredible dancing with him. He made me feel special, and not Avatar special, but _Korra_ special. The fact that he cared about me as more than just the Avatar was a good thing after all. To him I would always be Korra, and that was what mattered all along. We had just finished our dance, and I sensed that our faces were drawing closer together; when suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder yank me back to reality. I looked over and there was Councilman Tarrlok.

"Avatar, I hope you don't mind, but there is a matter of importance." He said.

"Excuse me, Councilman Tarrlok," Noak said with a note of aggravation, "but I believe you just interrupted something."

"It won't take a moment." He then steered me away from Noak and over to where a gang of reporters was waiting.

Noatak's POV:

I glared at Tarrlok all the rest of the evening, both of them. I never realized before just how pressured Korra was in that interview, my informants had all just given me a vague description, they never indicated that Korra had been put under that level of antagonization from the press. I knew I was being a bit too hard on the younger Tarrlok, as he was genuinely remorseful for what had happened. Both of us agreed to join the taskforce as well, but simply for Korra's sake. I sensed that Korra was afraid, especially on the first mission. We were infiltrating a chi-blocker training site, the one under the bookstore. I noticed how Korra gasped in barely contained fear when she saw the banner with the image of the mask on it. I mentally kicked myself once again. I also was getting the vibe that both of the Tarrloks were enjoying beating up Equalists perhaps a little more than they should. When Korra ran after two of the escaping chi-blockers, I saw both Tarrloks follow after her; naturally, I pursued as well. Korra was about to get taken down by another chi-blocker who had been lying in wait, when the younger Tarrlok froze him to the wall.

"Nice timing, thanks, Tarro." Korra said.

"Excellent job, kid." The older Tarrlok congratulated him.

"Well," the younger Tarrlok responded, "we do make a good team."

"Yeah, we do." Korra agreed.

Afterwards, we were all made to pose for photographs of us with the captured Equalists. I still don't think they should have made such a big deal of this, as if it wasn't awkward enough for me to be attacking my former supporters. Then came the fateful press conference, the one that I dreaded. I knew what would happen, and it was disconcerting to once more hear those words.

"Amon, I challenge you to a duel! No taskforce, no chi-blockers, just the two of us tonight at midnight on Avatar Aang Memorial Island. Let's cut to the chase and settle this thing, _if_ you're man enough to face me."

Later that evening, Tarrlok and I watched as Korra set off for her "showdown". I knew that my older self wouldn't do anything to her, but it was still nerve-wracking. I barely registered the argument going on between Tenzin and the older Tarrlok. Then I saw it, even from here, the blasts of fire as Korra attempted to defend herself. I didn't hesitate, even though I knew my older self had sworn to save her for last, I leapt right onto the water and created an ice-board that I propelled straight to the island. I knew Tenzin and my brother were right behind me, but I went as fast as I could. When we got there, unsurprisingly, my older self and the chi-blockers had already left, and I ran straight over to Korra and helped her sit up, discreetly pressing a chi-point that would help her regain consciousness more quickly.

"Korra." I said. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she scarcely more than whispered, "I'm fine.

"What happened?" Tenzin asked. "Was Amon here?"

"Yeah, he ambushed me." She answered weakly.

"Did he-did he take your Bending away?"

Korra produced a small flame in her hands.

"No, I'm okay."

"Ah, thank goodness."

Korra suddenly broke out into a fit of sobs, and caught me off-guard as she clung to me for comfort. I responded by wrapping my arms around her, and holding her tight to let her know that she was safe.

"I was so terrified." She choked out. "I felt so helpless."

I felt a pang of guilt wash through me yet again. I never knew that my threat had reduced her to tears. I really felt like the bad guy.

"It's okay, Korra." I whispered to her. "You're safe now."

Korra then looked at Tenzin.

"You-you were right…I've been scared this whole time." She buried her face into my chest, as if she were trying to hide. "I've never felt like this before and-and I don't know what to do!"

Tenzin knelt down beside us and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Admitting your fears is the first and most difficult step in overcoming them." He said.

Korra was still weak from being knocked out, so as we left the island I carried her. I hadn't seen her so terrified since we were kids and that polar-leopard attacked us. I stayed by her side the rest of the night; I couldn't sleep anyway so I just held her as she cried herself to sleep. I hated this; I hated knowing that I had caused this amazing girl, this amazing young _woman_, to cry and be afraid. Tarrlok stood by, concerned, and wanted to stay as well but I told him to just go to bed and he did. I promised myself that I would never let anyone hurt her, not even me; but now it seemed that that promise was easier said than done. But no matter what, I would keep on fighting for her, I _would_ protect her.

**Hope you all liked this chapter, I love how I worked in a dancing scene, I think it was so cute. And notice how what Noatak thinks in that final sentence is sort of a reversal of his "I **_**will**_** destroy you" from when he was Amon. Okay, love you all, see you soon.**


	11. Tough Love

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Thanks for being patient with me. I do not own Legend of Korra.**

Tough Love

Noatak's POV:

The day after Korra's little encounter with 'me' on the island, Tenzin insisted that we resign from the taskforce, not that any of us were complaining, though the job of informing the older Tarrlok of our resignation unfortunately fell to me. How it happened I'm not sure, perhaps because I could be better at persuading the older Tarrlok that none of us were coming back; though I still couldn't understand why Tenzin couldn't do it himself, maybe it was because it should come directly from one of us. Still, this was definitely going to be an awkward encounter. I went with Tenzin to the Council Hall the following morning, and he pointed me in the direction of Tarrlok's office (As if I didn't already know). I knocked on the door and the assistant let me in. The older Tarrlok was sitting at his desk, looking over some papers and didn't look up when I entered.

"Who is it?" He asked the assistant in an unnecessarily hostile tone. "I'm very busy."

"I beg your pardon, Councilman Tarrlok, sir." The assistant answered. 'But, it is one of Avatar Korra's friends, and he says it's important."

Tarrlok looked up then, and when he saw it was me he noticeably flinched. Undoubtedly, he probably was still a little uneasy about me as I surely looked the same as I did when I left him during the blizzard.

"Ah, yes, leave us." He ordered the assistant, who immediately left the room.

I approached him without hesitation, he couldn't intimidate me, to me he was the same as the Tarrlok who was fast asleep back at Air Temple Island. He looked a little nervous about seeing me, only natural, it had been the same when we had been in the taskforce, it was like he didn't even want to look at me if he could help it.

"Noak, is it?" He asked.

"It is. I've worked on your taskforce since Korra joined. I should _hope_ you would remember my name by now." I replied.

"Yes. You told my assistant that you had something important to tell me, what is it?"

"I am here on behalf of myself, my brother, and Korra to inform you that the three of us are resigning from the taskforce."

He looked disappointed.

"I'm sorry to hear that. And I'm certain the _press_ will be unhappy as well."

I narrowed my eyes at him and he flinched again.

"That was a sneaky and underhanded thing you did to her." I said, barely containing my anger for what he had done to force Korra into joining the taskforce. "But I suppose part of it was my fault for not being more effective in keeping her away from you at that gala. After Korra's encounter with Amon," I tried not to wince at the sound of my old fake name, "I don't think it's a good idea for her to stay on the taskforce, and Master Tenzin agrees." He let out an irritated 'hmph' when I mentioned Tenzin. "My brother and I only joined so that we could keep Korra from getting hurt, and so we see no reason to stay either."

He stood up at this, trying to put on that politician's swagger of his.

"Are you sure I can't convince you otherwise? You and your brother are both very powerful assets to the taskforce."

"No, there is nothing that can convince either of us to stay." Part of that was a lie, the younger Tarrlok had not been too happy about us leaving the taskforce; in fact, he had tried to convince me and Korra to stay on it. I suppose he hadn't completely learned his lesson. "Korra will be returning to her Pro-Bending training, she's missed out on it enough as it is."

"So, she considers Pro-Bending to be more important than fighting Equalists?" He was trying to bait me; I could see right away what he was doing.

"Don't talk about Korra like that, you don't know her." I became very serious, I knew that I could intimidate him if I kept a calm appearance, Korra probably would've risen to the challenge, but I kept my temper under control. "This is not a joke, _Councilman_; I suggest that you _stay away_ from us. If you don't, then I will not hesitate to stop you. And, let's just say, it would not be advisable for you to get on my bad side."

"Who do you think you are, coming in here and threatening me?" His tone was rising, I could sense him slipping.

"I'm someone who doesn't want to lose all he cares about a second time." I said coldly, turning my back and walking out. I hated that I had to speak to my brother like that; but, then again, this man was not entirely the same as the Tarrlok who was still passed out and drooling when I got back to the island. As I walked out, I was able to detect that he hadn't moved; he was just staring after me, as if he knew that I was exactly the person I reminded him of.

Korra's POV:

Finally, I was able to get back to Pro-Bending again. I had been gone for several weeks, and I _really_ needed to catch up. I was amazed at how quickly I had been able to catch up. I was really happy that Noak and Tarro were able to come to so many of my practices; they had a lot of good advice to help me improve. I was still getting a little flustered when Noak would help me; he has sort of a hands-on approach. Wait! Not like _that_! I mean, he physically helps me with my stance, like he moves my arms if they're not in the right position, and stuff like that. Not anything inappropriate. I noticed that Mako was watching our exchange, and there was a look of…jealousy? on his face. Why would Mako be jealous of me and Noak? He already has a girlfriend, he shouldn't be concerned with who I choose to be interested in. I had been thinking more and more about my relationship with Noak since the gala when he asked me to dance with him, _spirits_ that boy can dance, and I've been wondering if he was just doing it to keep me away from Tarrlok or if he did it because he wanted to. I have definitely figured out how I feel about Mako though, I suppose when we first met I had a little bit of a star-struck fangirl crush on him, but he just sort of brushed me off and now he has a girlfriend so it doesn't matter. But why is he getting all irritated because of how I interact with Noak? And what business is it of his anyway?

Noatak's POV:

I was outside the temple, helping the two Airbender girls to feed the flying ring-tailed-lemurs. Even though those children could be incredibly annoying at times, I couldn't help but feel sorry about what I had tried to do to them and their father in that other life.

"So, Noak," Jinora said, "how's it going with Korra?" I froze, and it wasn't due to the snow falling around us. "You've been spending _a lot_ of time together lately." I could see the knowing look in the child's eyes.

"Uhhh…" Was all I could manage to reply.

"Oooh, yeah!" Ikki exclaimed. "Tell us all about the magical romance!"

"What?" I responded, then tried to shake off their comments by chuckling and ruffling their hair. "Listen to you two, I-I'm not interested in Korra like that, least of all any _romantic_ stuff. And besides," my face began to fall into a glower, "she's probably only interested in that stuck-up, arrogant, pushy Firebender." I then forced myself back into a nonchalant appearance. "But, just in case I _was_ interested in Korra like that, what would you suggest I do?" I was taking advice from _children_?

"Ooh!" Jinora answered. "I just read a historical saga where the hero fell in love with the enemy general's daughter, who was supposed to marry the prince. You should do what he did!"

"Which was…?"

"He rode a dragon into battle and burned down the _entire country_. Then he jumped into a volcano. It was _so_ romantic."

"Uhhh…"

"No, no, no!" Ikki protested. "The best way to win a girl's heart is to brew a love potion of rainbows and sunsets that makes true lovers sprout wings and fly into a magical castle in the sky, where they get married and eat clouds with spoons and use stars as ice cubes in their moonlight punch. Forever and ever and ever!"

"The volcano is starting to make sense now."

Just then we heard light chuckling.

"Oh, hi, Pema." I greeted the woman, I couldn't believe I hadn't sensed her approach, I should know better than to let my guard down. "Uh, how long were you standing there?"

"Long enough." She replied. "But trust me; I know what you're going through. Years ago I was in the exact the same situation, with Tenzin."

"Daddy was in love with someone else before you?" Ikki asked.

"That's right."

"So, may I ask what you did?" I inquired.

"Well, for the longest time, I did nothing. I was so shy and scared of rejection, but watching my soul mate spend his life with the wrong woman became too painful. So I hung my chin out there and I _confessed_ my love to Tenzin. And the rest is history."

The two little girls sighed at the romantic story, but it wasn't that simple to me.

"That's a nice story, Pema, but I'm not really the 'confess-your-feelings' kind of person."

At my response, Ikki pouted and Airbended herself so that she was right behind me and grabbed my ponytail and began to yank it, _hard_.

"Stop being such a meanie, Noak!" The child demanded. "Tell Korra all about the wonderful love that you have for her! Do it! Now, now, now! You boys are so stupid because you can't tell a girl how you feel!"

Pema had to pull the child away from me before she ripped out my hair with her frantic tugging. It was worse than the harassment these children inflicted upon me when we first met. Ikki had launched at me with seemingly endless questions and comments about why I had the same hairstyle as Korra and why we looked so 'cute' together, while Tarrlok and Korra had simply been snickering at my humiliation. But, this little incident had made me realize that I needed to at least make an effort to show Korra how I truly felt about her, and I would do after the Pro-Bending match tonight.

Tarrlok's POV:

Once again, Korra had done a spectacular job at her Pro-Bending match; of course, Noatak and I already knew she would be amazing. I was still a little upset by the fact that we had to quit from my taskforce (or the other me's taskforce, whatever), as well as the fact that it became clear that Korra had feelings for Noatak but she only saw me as a brother figure, but I suppose you can't have everything. Noatak and I had been on fairly tense terms recently, and I wanted to make up with him as well as to reestablish my friendship with Korra, so I figured that the three of us should all go out to dinner tonight; you know, as a way to celebrate Korra's team getting into the championship and all that. As soon as Korra and her teammates returned victoriously to where Noatak and I were waiting, I gave a friendly high-five that she happily returned.

"Korra," I heard Noatak begin to say, "there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Really, what is it, Noak?" She asked.

"Well, I-" He didn't finish what he was going to say as Miss Sato suddenly came in to congratulate her boyfriend. I noticed that Korra got a rather disgusted look on her face when she saw how lovey-dovey Mako and his girlfriend were being; I had to admit it was kind of making me feel uncomfortable too. As Bolin walked over, I noticed he was going to say something to Korra too, and I just figured he was going to ask her if she wanted to go out and celebrate the team's victory like me, so I just decided to beat him to the punch.

"Hey, Korra," I said, "how about we all go out to dinner to celebrate?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Tarro." She replied.

"Great, the four of us can all hang out tonight." I turned to Mako and Asami. "I would invite you two as well, but you both seem a little preoccupied." Mako responded by glaring at me, but I just shrugged. That Mako guy really annoyed me, he clearly had feelings for Korra even though he already had a girlfriend, it was ridiculous. I noticed that Bolin was a little off-put by my intercession, I didn't quite understand why…_oh_, had he been about to ask Korra on a _date_? Oh well, too late now, not that I regret it much. I just casually slung my arms over Korra and Bolin's shoulders in a friendly manner and looked at my brother. "Just us friends all hanging out to celebrate a triumph."

Noatak's POV:

I was going to kill him. That's the second time in this new life that someone by the name of Tarrlok got in the way of me having a moment with Korra. Alright, true he managed to stop Bolin from asking her out, but he could've just distracted him instead of shanghaiing us all into a friendly get-together. So we all found ourselves at Narook's, eating noodles together. Korra's table-manners were just as awful as they had always been, I didn't mind though as I found it to be rather endearing. It was good to be eating Water Tribe food again, and I sensed that Korra was happy about it as well, not that the food on Air Temple Island isn't good but there's just something about eating your native cuisine that is very fulfilling.

"So, how'd you guys like it?" Bolin asked us, his mouth full.

"It's delicious, and totally authentic." Korra responded in kind. "I didn't realize how much I missed Water Tribe grub."

"I second that." Tarrlok agreed, raising his hand like he would if they were taking a vote on the council. Old habits die hard I guess.

"I must admit," I added, "this place does make quality noodles." Just as they had done in that other life.

Just then, I noticed Korra's attention get diverted to something and I also moved my gaze in that direction.

"Hey," Korra said to Bolin, "who's that creepy guy over there who keeps glaring at us?"

"That's Tahno and the Wolfbats." Bolin replied. Oh yes, I knew who _those_ people were alright. "The reigning champs three years running. Don't make eyes contact." He warned us, holding up his hands; of course, Korra completely disregarded what he said and sent a powerful glare back at the Wolfbat captain in response. This was going to get interesting.

"Uh-oh, here he comes." Bolin stated as Tahno and his cronies got up from their table and started towards us. "Now don't mess with this guy, he's a nasty dude." Bolin immediately resumed eating, trying his best to look as small and helpless as possible. I remembered the arrogance of those Wolfbats in that other life, right before I took their Bending away.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Fire Ferrets. Pro-bending's saddest excuse for a team." Tahno drawled once he reached our table. "Tell me, how did a couple of amateurs like you luck your way into the tournament? Especially you, _Uh-vatar_." Korra scoffed in response. "You know, if you'd like to learn how a _real_ pro Bends, I could give you some _private__ lessons_." He leered at Korra, and I instantly felt like I was going to snap at the innuendo in his suggestion.

"You wanna go toe-to-toe with me, pretty boy?" Korra responded, standing up challengingly and glaring at Tahno.

"Go for it, I'll give you the first shot."

"Korra, _don't_," Bolin whispered to her, "he's just trying to bait you; if you hit him, we're out of the tournament."

I stood up then, I wasn't about to let this guy get away with talking to Korra in such a manner, even if I did know he would get his due.

"Maybe _she_ can't hit him, but I sure can." I said.

"It's okay, Noak, I got this." Korra assured me, outing a hand up to indicate that she could handle this herself. She looked Tahno dead in the eyes, and before I even realized what had happened, she brought her fingers to her lips and whistled, summoning Naga who burst through the window of the restaurant with a ferocious roar. Tahno fell backwards, only to be caught by his teammates and groupies; once he regained his composure, h motioned for his associates to follow him and they skulked back to their booth. I was impressed that Korra hadn't risen to the bait, and that she hadn't either pounded Tahno's face in or incinerated him with her Firebending, that girl never ceases to amaze me. We all broke out into fits of laughter.

Later on we all sat down at the bar for drinks; Korra and Bolin got into a belching contest, much to Tarrlok's disgust and my amusement, and afterwards we all went out to Harmony Tower to look at the amazing view. Korra was absolutely enthralled by it, and I had to admit it was nice being up there with her. It would have better if _someone_ hadn't decided to make this a group outing and that Korra and I could enjoy this _alone_. Every time I tried to get Korra away from the other two so I could tell her how I felt about her, something happened and it didn't come to pass. By the time we got back to the island, I went straight to mine and Tarrlok's room and started banging my head against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Tarrlok asked.

"Banging my head against the wall." I replied casually.

"I can see that. Any particular reason _why_?"

"Oh, I think you know perfectly well _why_."

"No, please enlighten me." I could see that sneaky politician's smirk on his face.

"Every time I tried to talk to Korra alone, _every time_, something happened! And it was all because you _had_ to take us all on a friendly evening out. Why couldn't you see that I clearly wanted to ask her on a date? Why did you…" I trailed off when his grin just kept widening and I thought he would burst out laughing.

"Well, well, well, big brother. Who would've thought it? A former Bloodbending leader of an anti-Bending revolution, who threatened to destroy the Avatar, is falling in love with her."

I felt like I had just been slapped in the face. Along the way in all of this, I kept pushing away the fact that I had once been Korra's enemy, I had sought to destroy her, and here I was being a jealous, angst-ridden teenage boy. The spirits should've sent me and my brother to the deepest, darkest region of the Spirit World rather than this, the ultimate lesson in ironic punishment. I had fallen for Korra, completely and hopelessly, body and soul, and it took me until now to finally admit to myself that it was more than just teenage hormones and the fact that she was probably the single most attractive woman I had ever seen. This could not end well.

Korra's POV:

I was on my way in to play for our quarter-final match, we are so close to the finals that I can practically taste it, and Mako was standing there waiting. He looked irritated, I really don't get why.

"What kind of game are you playing?" He demanded.

"Uh…Pro-Bending? We've got the quarter-final match." I responded.

"No, I mean with the guys. What are you playing at, Korra?"

"What's your problem? Have a little spat with your girlfriend or something?"

"What? No! That's not…urgh! I'm just looking out for my little brother, okay. He hasn't stopped going on about you, and I don't think it's a good idea for you to be leading him on like that."

"What are you talking about?" Now I was really confused. "We were just hanging out with the guys and having fun, not that you'd understand what 'fun' is."

"It's just that…I…" Hold on a minute, I knew what was going on now.

"Wait, you're not worried about Bolin, you're _jealous_. You have feelings for me."

"What? Jealous? Don't be ridiculous."

"Ha. You're just _so_ full of yourself that you thought I would instantly start falling all over myself for you like so many of your fangirls. Alright, I'll admit that at first I was a little star-struck by you, I mean you're a big-shot Pro-Bender and all that, but you didn't even acknowledge my existence until I showed how great _I_ am in the arena. You're jealous that I'm becoming friends with your brother and the fact that Noak and I are already as close as we are. Admit it, you like me."

"No, I'm with Asami." He protested, but I could hear the denial in his voice.

"Yeah, but when you're with her, you're thinking about _me_ and what me and the guys are doing, aren't you?"

"Get over yourself!"

"Only when you do. I'm just being honest."

"You're crazy!"

"And _you're_ a liar and a _jerk_!"

Man, I was so mad at him I just stormed off to get ready for the game. The nerve of him! Thinking that he can just flaunt his relationship and then tell me I can't even spend time with the guys. And how dare he accuse me of leading Bolin on? We're just friends and he knows it. But that jerk can't even stand the thought of me spending time with friends because he thinks that all girls should just fall for him, he's just as bad as that Tahno guy with a slutty broad on each arm, only in a control-freak form. Ugh, whatever, I have a match to win.

Tarrlok's POV:

As Noatak and I watched, it became clear to both of us that something was going on between Korra and Mako. They were clearly arguing amongst themselves, which is never good for a team, and they almost seemed like they were going to lose, but luckily Bolin stepped up to the plate for them and won them the game. After the match ended, I high-fived Korra and Bolin.

"Great game, guys." I said. "But Korra, what was up with you and Mako? You guys get in an argument or something?" I knew full well that Mako was within earshot.

"Huh." She scoffed. "He was getting all jealous because I've been hanging out with you three. I mean, it's none of his business who I hang out with, am I right?"

"Pfft, totally."

She then turned to Bolin. "And he also had the nerve to accuse me of leading you on, Bolin. Can you believe him? We're just friends, right?"

"Yeah." He agreed, though with some slight sense of disappointment. "Just…friends."

As Korra walked off to change out of her uniform, I put my hand on Bolin's shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Welcome to the friendzone, buddy. There's always room for one more."

He nodded sadly.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being friendzoned. It just means that our relationship with her is sturdiest, but any romantic relationship will always be uncertain. No matter what, we've got to be there for her." He nodded in agreement. "And besides, are you sure you had genuinely romantic feelings for her?"

"Huh?"

"Well, when did you start thinking that you two were meant to be together or whatever sentiment you had?"

"I guess I started feeling that way after I almost got 'equalized' by Amon."

"And there it is. You're not in love with _her_; you're in love with the fact that she saved your Bending. It's just hero-worship, and it can't replace true friendship."

He seemed to brighten at that. Wow, I never knew I could give such good advice. I thought the whole 'inner wisdom' hoo-ha was Tenzin's shtick. I guess sometimes you can surprise yourself.

"Hey," I added, "how's about we go for a best-buds only night. We can eat our weight in noodles and talk about manly stuff."

"Yeah, with no girls or annoying big brothers to bug us!"

And so we made our way over to Narook's once again.

By the next morning, we learned that staying out all night and scarfing down noodles was not such a great idea. Luckily we had our 'annoying big brothers' to carry us home.

Korra's POV:

Last night, after Bolin had managed to snag us a victory, I had another yelling match with Mako. He really just can't get over himself. Lucky for me, Noak showed up and managed to get me away from him and back to the island. I really hope Mako learns that the world doesn't revolve around him and we can just go back to being friends. Noak was really comforting, and I sensed that he wanted to say something to me but he was struggling to get it out, he'd been like that a lot lately. This morning, Noak and I both realized that Tarro hadn't come back all night since he and Bolin went out for their 'guy time', when they got back it turned out that 'guy time' means getting wasted on noodles right before our big game. Tarro spent most of the day asleep on the bench in the locker room, Noak finally managed to bring him round when the game started up, and they both called out wishes for good luck, we would definitely need it. Mako was still mad and Bolin was a wreck, we clearly didn't seem like we would win. We eventually got to a point where we would need a knockout to win, and Mako and Bolin got blasted into the pool. It was all up to me now. I was _not_ going to let the team down because of my fight with Mako, even if he was the one who started it, so I grit my teeth and Pro-Bended like I'd never Pro-Bended before.

"It didn't seem possible, folks," I heard the announcer, Shiro Shinobi, say, "but the Fire-Ferrets are headed to the finals!"

I did it! I got my team to the finals! I was ecstatic as the guys came over to hug me and pat me on the back in congratulations. I turned to Mako, firmly resolved to stop whatever was making him be a jerk.

"Look, Mako, I know you're confused or whatever, but I really want us to be friends, okay?"

He sighed and nodded in agreement. Just then, those arrogant Wolfbat jerks came in. Tahno made a few snide comments before heading off to his match. Asami then came in to see her boyfriend and to compliment me on my victory. I have to say, Asami's a pretty cool girl, why she likes Mako is a complete mystery to me though. I then turned my attention to Bolin, who had gotten a nasty blow to the shoulder; as I healed him, I heard the bell ring and the winners announced. The Wolfbats had won? Already? We all hurried over to see it for ourselves, and sure enough those three jerks were standing there triumphant. I looked over at their opponents who were being carried off on stretchers. This was not a good sign.

**Hey, hey, folks. How'd ya like my new take on this episode? Mako's a total jerk, and I felt like making that clear to everyone, including Korra. Well, hope to see you soon. Bye.**


	12. Day Off

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Filler. Glorious, pointless filler. Why? A. Because I can, B. Because there were no filler episodes in LoK, and C. I thought this would be fun. So, to conclude, I don't on Legend of Korra. **

Day Off

Noatak's POV:

Korra had the day off from Pro-Bending practice, and I was determined to take full advantage of that. I knew full well that Master Tenzin would surely be planning to have Korra do more Airbending training, but I was two steps ahead. I knew the only way to get to spend the day with Korra was to do a very sneaky and underhanded thing. Swallowing any pride I had left, I knocked on the door.

"Good morning, Noak." Pema greeted cheerily. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, yes, Pema." I replied. "You see, Korra has been training so hard at Pro-Bending practice lately, that I was thinking that she should have the day off from Airbending."

She gave me a knowing look, completely understanding the hidden message in my request.

"You two have fun. Just leave Tenzin to me." She turned to go back into the room, but then paused. "Oh, before you leave," she pulled two slips of paper from her pocket, "take these." She handed me the slips of paper and I realized that they were tickets.

"Uh, thanks, Pema. What are these for?"

"Oh, just something I think the two of you will enjoy going to see together." With that, she closed the door. I looked down at the tickets; they were for a play in town tonight. 'The Phantom of the Opera'. I had heard of this play before, but never seen it; I hoped Korra would like it.

When Korra finally woke up, I was waiting outside her room. Even though she had the scruffy look of someone who had just gotten out of bed, I still thought she looked as amazing as always. When she saw me, she looked confused by the fact that I was just leaning against the wall opposite her door, wearing a big grin on my face.

"Noak, what's going on?" Korra asked with suspicion.

"Oh, nothing much." I replied with a casual shrug. "Just hanging out I guess, thinking about what we're going to do since you have today off."

"Don't mock me, Noak. You know perfectly well that Tenzin wants me at Airbending training."

"Oh, well, if you say so."

"What did you do?" She asked, her eyes narrowing and a curious smile starting to form.

"Oh, me? I _may_ have gone to Pema and asked her if you can cut Bending practice today, and she just _may_ have given permission."

I was completely caught off-guard when Korra tackled me in a hug.

The day passed much too quickly. We walked around Republic City, ate lunch together, and even got into a snowball fight in the park just like back at the South Pole when we were kids. It was a simple day, but one that we both enjoyed. We joked and we talked. Korra shared her growing anxiousness about the Pro-Bending Championship; I tensed when she mentioned that subject, as I knew what was coming but I couldn't warn her, it was eating me alive to have such knowledge that I couldn't share. But, I did not show my fears; I gave her reassuring words and encouragement, not allowing her to worry about the future when we had today to focus on.

Eventually, evening came and we headed for the theater. I knew Korra had never been to a play before, and I had to act like I hadn't either. A few minutes in and I was beginning to realize that the spirits have a cruel sense of humor (as if I didn't know already). The play itself was wonderful, but there was something about it that made me feel like I was being mocked by the Universe. The play was about a man in a mask who is obsessed with a young singer, and uses threats, violence, and surprisingly catchy songs in order to try and win her. Korra seemed to enjoy the play though, and after we left the theater she started to recite a few of her favorite songs from the piece; she actually has a very nice singing voice, but only those who know her like I do know that.

"_In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came. That voice it calls to me, and speaks my name. And do I dream again? For now I find, the Phantom of the Opera is there, inside my mind._"

The irony was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Oh, I am _definitely _going to have some weird dreams based off of this play when I go to bed.

**I would have made it longer, but I hit a creative wall for some reason and just had to get this out of my head as quickly as I could. Just consider this a drabble or something. The reference to Phantom of the Opera is just something that was rooting around in my head, as I have gotten on a Phantom of the Opera addiction, and I just couldn't help but see the parallels with Amorra.**


	13. What To Do?

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Hey, sorry this took so long; I got distracted by Amorra Week. And about the previous chapter, I just really needed to do an Amorra allusion to Phantom of the Opera, it's not meant to be taken seriously, just in case the use of a real-world thing was confusing for you. Anyway, I do not own Legend of Korra.**

What to do?

Noatak's POV:

I was pacing the floor, trying to figure out how I could possibly do something to stop what would happen at the arena tonight. Of course, it's difficult when you're trying to outsmart _yourself_. Tarrlok was watching me, probably hoping that, at any moment, I would get an idea. When we heard my older self announce on the radio that the Pro-Bending arena must be closed down, I wasn't surprised that Korra marched us all over to City Hall to protest the closing of the arena. I was torn on this matter; on the one hand I knew it was all a trap and that my older self was hoping the arena would stay open so that he could Equalize those cheating Wofbats, but on the other hand I couldn't support the closing of the arena as Korra would see it as a betrayal of friendship. I decided that it was best to remain silent but do everything in my power to try and make sure that nothing would happen. I remembered all the details of my older self's plan, and I knew how the Equalists were going to smuggle their weapons into the arena tonight; I just wish there was a way to inform Chief Bei Fong without causing suspicion. As I waited for Korra and her teammates to enter the arena for the match that they had been training so hard to win, my heart sank when I realized how unfair this whole thing was. Korra and her team actually play by the rules, yet they're going to lose to those cheating Wolfbats. For the first time in ages, I felt a little of the Amon in me resurface, I was actually looking forward to seeing those jerks get their comeuppance; I only felt bad for Korra and her teammates. I actually did feel bad for Mako and Bolin as well; they needed the Championship winnings more than most. Life really isn't fair, but of course I already knew that.

"Good luck tonight, Korra." I said, acting as though everything was fine. "I know you'll do great." Truth is, she would do great, but that wasn't enough to stop what would happen.

"Thanks, Noak, that means a lot." I tensed when she pulled me into a hug. I just wish that things could change, but some things just can't be helped.

I could feel every beat of my heart as I watched, Korra really _was_ magnificent. I was seething with rage when those arrogant Wolfbats started up their underhanded tactics. _They'll get theirs soon enough_ A voice in my head told me. Tarrlok and I both knew that we should be ready to help Korra and the others when the Wolfbats used the water with rocks in it to force the Fire Ferrets off the platform. What I hadn't been expecting, however, was someone trying to attack us. We had been heading down to the platform at the pool around the arena where Korra and her teammates were about to be knocked into, when I suddenly sensed someone attempting to strike me while my back was turned. I whipped around and caught the hand of an Equalist, who stared in shock from behind his mask, and instantly had him pinned and unconscious within moments. Tarrlok was not so fortunate when the Lieutenant suddenly entered and electrocuted him before he even realized what happened. That got me angry, _very_ angry, and I began to fight with him. I clearly outmatched him, I may have been returned to my younger form but that doesn't mean I've lost my old fighting abilities. I was confused when he suddenly retreated; I remember that the Lieutenant would never retreat unless ordered to. Then it hit me when I heard Shiro Shinobi announce the knockout. Tarrlok was starting to wake up from being electrocuted, so I quickly grabbed him by the front of the shirt and ran as fast as I could. I was _not_ going to let this happen. We got there and the Lieutenant was nowhere in sight. Odd. Tarrlok and I then moved to help Korra and the Fire Ferrets out of the pool, when the sound of screaming rang out from the crowds. Then I sensed him, and managed to duck out of the way before one of the kali-sticks struck me. Korra tried to Waterbend at the Lieutenant but he managed to zap her and the other two Fire Ferrets unconscious. I was in attack mode, and was lashing out with all I had. However, I was so focused on fighting my opponent that I wasn't paying attention to where I was moving, and I ended up slipping into the pool. Soon, I too felt the electric shock rendering me unconscious.

Tarrlok's POV:

I couldn't believe it when I saw Noatak go down like that, I had expected him to be move observant. I suppose his anger got the better of him this time. I was still a little shaky from being electrocuted earlier, but I got into a battle-stance and was prepared to fight nonetheless. I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that some other Equalists were pulling my brother and my friends out of the water and tying them to one of the support beams for the arena platform. I managed to duck and run, I knew I might be able to help if I distracted this Lieutenant guy long enough for the others to wake up. I darted into the corridor and naturally he began to chase me. I swore I would never use Bloodbending again, but once I ducked into a side-room, I closed my eyes and used the ability to detect whether or not he was close by. I could easily have just bumped him off, or subdued him, but using Bloodbending was still as abhorrent a notion to me as it had ever been. Once I was certain that he had left, I raced back to help the others. I got there, just as they were coming to, and also just as Amon was starting his speech.

"I believe I have your attention, benders of Republic City. So once again, the Wolfbats are your Pro-Bending champions. It seems fitting that you celebrate three bullies who cheated their way to victory, because every day, you threaten and abuse your fellow Non-Bending citizens just like the Wolfbats did to their opponents tonight. Those men were supposedly the best in the Bending world and yet it only took a few moments for me to cleanse them of their impurity. Let this be a warning to all of you Benders out there: if any of you stand in my way, you will meet the same fate. Now, to my followers: for years the Equalists have been forced to hide in the shadows, but now we have the numbers and the strength to create a new Republic City. I'm happy to tell you that the time for change has finally come. Very soon, the current tyrannical Bending regime will be replaced by a fair-minded Equalist government. You and your children will no longer have to walk the streets afraid. It's time to take back our city."

I felt chills running through me as he spoke. It's hard to believe that the man saying all those things is my older brother who is currently tied up and just barely waking up after being electrocuted by one of his followers. But, I just tried to focus my attention on getting my four associates free.

"Tarro?!" Korra exclaimed when she finally came to he senses.

"How did you get away, dude?" Bolin asked.

"Maybe now isn't the best time for questions." I replied.

The eerie voice of my brother's older self continued in his speech.

"For centuries, Benders have possessed an unnatural advantage over ordinary people. But thankfully, modern technology has provided us with a way to even out the playing field. Now anyone can hold the power of a chi-blocker in their hand. My followers and I will not rest until the entire city achieves equality, and once that goal is achieved, we will equalize the rest of the world. The revolution has begun!"

With that final exclamation, I heard the sound of glass shattering and was thankful that we had cover so that we wouldn't get injured. Those damned ropes must have some sort of alloy in them that makes them hard to cut through, and it was taking forever to get them undone. Then came the sound of the explosion and I got startled.

"It's okay, Tarro, just a little explosion." Bolin assured me. I raised an eyebrow in response, silently telling him that I knew what it was, and resumed untying them. Finally, I got them loose, and Korra immediately jumped towards the water. Bolin slapped me on the back. "Great job, buddy." He declared.

I then moved to help Noatak, who was still only semi-conscious.

"I'm going after Amon!" Korra shouted to us.

"Be careful!" I yelled after her as worry engulfed me.

I helped Noatak try to stand, but he seemed a bit shaky on his feet. He looked up and realized that Korra was going after his older self. He tried to break away from me and follow her, but I held him back.

"She'll be okay." I muttered to him. "You're in no condition to fight."

He calmed and let me lead him as we followed the other brothers to a safe location. Being electrocuted had _really_ done a number on Noatak; I had never thought he would be down this long. By the time he was completely back to normal, the fight was over. Korra rushed over and hugged us, and we hugged her back as if we were afraid that if we let go she would disappear. During the last part of the fight, we had seen her as she was about to fall to her death, and it was only due to the fact that Chief Bei Fong had helped her that that awful notion didn't come to be. Mako and Bolin came over as well and expressed their relief that Korra was okay. We all knew what was going to happen now, and Master Tenzin voiced our thoughts.

"Republic City is at war."

On the way back to Air Temple Island, I noticed that Noatak was still holding onto Korra as she fell asleep. I felt a twinge of envy that I thought I had suppressed awhile back, but it's still hard seeing them together when I myself still have some feelings for Korra. But, whatever makes her happy is fine with me.

Korra's POV:

After this disaster of a Championship, I was exhausted. Well, you would be too if you had come that close to dying. I was so relieved when we were on the boat back over to Air Temple Island; everything just seemed safe there, like nobody would dare to hurt anyone at such a sacred place. I soon found myself drifting off, and I felt my head collide with something, I instantly realized that it was a person. I hadn't been aware of whom I had been sitting next to, and I began to wonder who it was. I knew it wasn't Tarro as he always seems to have a strange floral scent around him that kinda reminds me of Councilman Tarrlok, I began to wonder if it was Noak. The thought made me get nervous. Was I making him feel awkward? Would he try and wake me up or edge away? I was relieved when I felt the sensation of strong arms wrapping around me protectively. It made me feel safe. I didn't fully get to sleep until I was lying in my bed. The arms that had held me on the boat ride had carried me into my room as well, and I remembered back a few weeks ago when Noak had carried me to my room after my encounter with Amon on Aang Memorial Island when I was too weak to walk. As I slept tonight, I couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching over me, making sure that nothing would hurt me.

**Yes, I finally got another chapter done. I would like to dedicate the rest of this story to ****thebloodwebondin**** as I heard about her condition and it broke my heart that one of my favorite Amorra/Korrlok writers was not well. When she posted about what she is going through on tumblr, it made me want to tearbend. And I just want to say that I'll be praying for her as she goes through treatment, and I encourage everyone else to do the same. Light a candle, ask for a blessing, offer condolences, anything. I have a cousin who went through the same thing she's going through, and they made a miraculous recovery, I just hope the same thing happens for her. Thank you and I'll try to update soon. God bless.**


	14. How to Make This Work

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Sorry this took so long. I don't own Legend of Korra.**

How to Make This Work

Noatak's POV:

I hadn't slept at all last night. I just couldn't. I knew what was coming very soon. There had to be a way for me to help Korra find out about the new weapons and Hiroshi Sato's involvement with the Equalists. I was interrupted from my musings on this when Korra knocked on my door and showed herself in.

"Hey, Noak, I just talked to Tenzin."

"What about?"

"About letting the guys come to live here. Mako and Bolin can't stay at the Pro-Bending arena anymore after what happened."

The memory of the other night stung me once again.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey, are you okay? You seem kinda…off."

"I'm fine, Korra." She didn't look convinced. "Really, I'm okay. I just…I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"You wanna talk about it?" She sat down next to me on the bed and I felt nervous at our close proximity to each other. "Because, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"It's just-it's just…I've been getting this bad feeling lately. I know something's gonna happen and I don't know how to deal with it. I'm worried, Korra. There's something going on and I don't like it."

"Hey," she put a hand on my shoulder, "it's okay. We're all worried. But, everything's gonna turn out fine. I promise."

She got up and left to go and retrieve our two friends. Of course, I already happened to know that Asami Sato was going to invite them to live at the Sato mansion. How could I _not_ know about it? Hiroshi had gone into a tirade at headquarters after he found out. I then heard the sound of someone else entering the room.

"Hello, Tarrlok."

My brother just stood there, I wasn't even looking at him but I could tell he was giving me a glare.

"You can't keep this up, you know?" He said. "You have to find a way to help Korra find out what she needs to know without her having to put herself on the line like last time. If her friends hadn't shown up to help her, who knows how things would have turned out. You could at least do _me_ a favor and give me all the information you remember about what the Equalists are up to."

"To do _what_?" I snapped. "Send an anonymous tip-off to the authorities? How do you know that they won't just assume it's a hoax or a trap?"

Tarrlok didn't flinch at my outburst.

"Just tell me the truth. You owe me that much. And we owe _Korra _that much."

"Fine." I relented. "Where should we start?"

"How about we start with when the Equalists are going to plant those crates of weapons at Cabbage Corp? It will help keep an innocent man from losing his business and it might slow down the progress that the Equalists are making."

I let out a sigh. The Cabbage Corp incident had indeed bought the Equalists valuable time. I still felt guilty about the frame-up; it had not been one of my proudest moments to have Mr. Gan-Lan arrested for a crime he didn't commit. Tarrlok looked at me, his expression completely serious, and I told him what I knew.

Tarrlok's POV:

Noatak told me everything about the Cabbage Corp set-up. I knew when and how the Equalists were going to carry out this little caper, now I just needed to think up a brilliant scheme to get them all caught and arrested.

"This is the dumbest idea _ever_, Tarrlok." Noatak hissed at me as we stood outside the police office a few hours before the Equalists were due to arrive and plant the false evidence in Cabbage Corp. We were dressed in large trench-coats and fedora hats like informants in a radio mystery series. I frowned at him.

"It's not dumb, and stop calling me by that name. What's the point of having code-names if you're not gonna use them?" He rolled his eyes and I stuck out my tongue in response. It was childish, but we had gotten used to bickering in this way.

"Fine. But why does _my_ codename have to be 'Angry-jerk'?" He snapped.

I gave him the look that silently told him 'you just answered your own question'.

"Can't we _please_ just cooperate on this? It's important."

Noatak let out an irritated huff.

"Let's just get this over with. Tenzin will get miffed if he finds out that we're out at this time of night."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I dismissed his statement with a wave of my hand. "Now come on, Agent Angry-jerk. We've got intel to report."

"You've been listening to too many late-night crime-drama radio broadcasts."

"Just follow my lead." I retorted.

"Lead away, Agent _Annoying_."

"It's 'Agent _Awesome_'."

"Ego issues much?"

"Can we just do this already?"

He shrugged and I led the way to the back door of the police station. I pulled out a wire and a small nail-file and began to pick the lock.

"Tarrlok." Noatak said, but I ignored him. "Tarrlok." Still ignoring. "_Tarrlok_." His tone was very aggravated.

"_What_? Can't you see I'm concentrating?"

"The door isn't locked."

I felt like someone had hit me in the face with a shovel.

"I knew _that_." No I didn't. "I just…wanted to look cool." Okay, that _was_ true.

Noatak just rolled his eyes and opened the door. Police informants always came in this way and we soon managed to get to Chief Bei Fong's office. I really hoped that she wouldn't recognize our voices or anything. We kept the necks of our coats up and the brims of our hats lowered so no one would see our faces.

"Chief Bei Fong." I addressed the esteemed Chief of Police, purposefully making my voice lower so as to sound more adult.

"What do you want? I'm very busy as the moment." She replied.

"My associate and I have reason to believe that the Equalists are planning on setting-up Lau Gan-Lan by planting Equalist weapons in his factory. They should be arriving to carry this out in just a few hours from now."

"Uh-huh." She didn't sound convinced.

"Chief Bei Fong." Noatak stepped forward; also changing his voice (he was much better at it than me). "You must listen to us. If this goes unchecked, an innocent man is going to have his reputation ruined."

She seemed to be buying Noatak's explanation.

"Very well." She sighed. "If you two are so adamant, I suppose it's worth looking into."

"Thank you, Chief Bei Fong. That's all we can ask." Noatak turned to leave.

"Also," I quickly started to add as I followed my brother out, "don't trust Hiroshi Sato. He's an Equalist and-" I was cut off by Noatak grabbing my arm and yanking me after him.

"What?" I fussed at Noatak as we headed back toward Air Temple Island. "She has a right to know."

"One step at a time, Tarrlok. We were pushing our luck as it was."

"So, what are we going to do now?"

"We're going back to the island and we are going to get some sleep and check the news in the morning."

"Aw, come on. Surely we can go out and bust into some Equalist hideouts. I'm sure you know where all of them are."

"This isn't a game! Do you have any idea how confusing this is for me?! All you can think about is breaking into places and beating people up to get your picture in the newspaper!"

"Nuh-uh." I protested. "I care about this city. And who said anything about being in the newspapers? I was thinking we could be like vigilantes or something."

Noatak looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

"You're insane. Getting this second life has made you go completely mad. It was bad enough you had to go all murder-suicide on me when we could have just gone and rebuilt our lives. Now look at us. Come on, Tarrlok. Tell me, what part of this situation makes you think everything is just sunshine and rainbows?"

"We're alive." I shrugged.

"Yeah. Big _whoop_." He deadpanned as he threw his hat into a trashcan.

"Come on, Noa." I said pleadingly as I walked faster, trying to catch up with him as he stormed away. "Don't be like this. Can't you just enjoy life?"

"Enjoy life? Of _course_ I enjoy life. I've enjoyed the life we've been leading since our second chance occurred up until we set foot in this damned city."

"Come on, Noa." I stopped him. "What's really bugging you? Is it Korra?"

"What? Korra's not bugging me. Why would you say that?"

"You know what I mean." I leaned against the building behind me and crossed my arms. I sighed and closed my eyes. "What's the problem?"

"It's everything, okay!?" He yelled. Noatak never usually exploded like this; ordinarily, he was calm and collected all the time. "I hate this. I hate not being able to change everything completely. I'm just so angry with myself over all the mistakes I made. And I'm upset that this is all bringing Korra so much trouble. And yet, you act like nothing's wrong and drag me off to play detective-vigilante-whatever like it makes a difference. Well it _doesn't_. It's not going to change _anything_. And we've put Korra through all this, even though none of it was her fault. It's not like she _asked_ to be the Avatar and yet we went and did all _this_. And the worst part is that we actually _care_. Back in the days when we did all this, we didn't know her. We didn't care about her. You played her for your little glory-hogging schemes and I tried to destroy her for no reason other than the fact that she was born with unique gifts and responsibilities that set her apart. I know she's a human being like everyone else, but she is also special and neither of us saw that. All we saw was someone we could use for our own goals, and we preyed on her weaknesses until she finally reached the breaking point with us and brought us both down. And we deserved it."

We both stood there in silence for a long time. Eventually, I broke the tension and placed a hand on my brother's shoulder.

"Come on." I said. "Let's go get some noodles or something at Narook's before we get back to the island." Noatak threw me another disbelieving look and I shrugged. "I'd say you're in need of comfort food, so we are _going_ to get noodles. And maybe some sea prunes too if you knock it off with the looks."

Korra's POV:

I woke up this morning and went to find the guys. They were both sitting in front of the radio listening to the news. I started to say good morning but they shushed me as a report suddenly came on.

"_Chief Bei Fong._" The reporter inquired. "_How did you know that the Equalists were planning on framing Mr. Gan-Lan?_"

"_I received a tip-off from two anonymous informants who arrived at my office last night and urged me to launch an investigation of the possibility of Equalists infiltrating Cabbage Corp and planting the 'evidence' of Mr. Gan-Lan's alleged involvement._"

"_Then, do you have any leads as to who the real manufacturer of the Equalist weapons is?_"

"_As my sources were leaving my office last night, one of them blurted out his belief that Hiroshi Sato is an Equalist. Therefore, in light of the reliability of my sources, we will be instigating a search of Future Industries._"

"Wow." I voiced my thoughts. "It sure was lucky for Mr. Gan-Lan that someone warned Bei Fong before the Equalists ruined his life." Tarro and Noak both nodded but remained silent. "But, Hiroshi Sato an Equalist? That seems a bit far-fetched." The guys didn't respond to my attempt at lightening the mood. "What's with you two?"

They briefly exchanged looks.

"Tired." They both answered at the same time.

I brushed it off. If they wanted to tell me something they would tell me when they wanted to, I could never force answers out of them.

Noatak's POV:

"Why are we here?" I asked as we walked up to the front door of the Sato mansion. "Mr. Sato is being investigated for involvement with the Equalists. I don't think this is a good idea."

"Come on, Noak." Korra replied. "I promised the guys we'd show up. And besides, do you really believe that Hiroshi Sato is an Equalist? He endorsed the Fire-Ferrets. His daughter is dating Mako, who is a _Firebender_."

"Maybe the supporting your team was just a cover. And maybe Asami doesn't know her father is an Equalist." I stopped and caught my slip. "I mean, you know, if he _is_ an Equalist. But we won't make assumptions until it's proven."

"Ex_actly_, that's why it's important to show that we're not going to jump to conclusions because of what some random person said."

I exchanged a look with Tarrlok and he just shrugged.

We were shown through the mansion by the butler until we reached the swimming pool where our friends were waiting.

"Earthbending bomb!" I heard the familiar voice of Bolin shout right before there was a loud splash.

The butler announced our arrival to the others.

"Avatar Korra, Master Noak, and Master Tarro have arrived."

"Hey, guys!" Mako greeted us.

"Glad you made it!" Asami added.

"Welcome to paradise!" Bolin concluded.

"Looks like you guys settled right in." Korra stated with a sly smirk.

"Pretty much," Mako responded, "except _someone_ forgot to ask her father if we could stay here."

"Yeah, but I smoothed it over with him." Asami pointed out. I felt the sudden urge to laugh, if only she knew. "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."

After a bit more light banter, Korra decided to get right to the point.

"So, what do you have planned for us today?" She asked Asami. "Let me guess, shopping, makeovers..."

"Ooh! Ooh! I vote makeovers!" Both Bolin and Tarrlok shouted at the same time.

Korra and I both turned to look at my brother in disbelief.

"What?" He replied with a shrug.

"I had something a little more exciting in mind." Asami told us.

Korra's POV:

Wow, I had never thought that racing satomobiles would be on the agenda. I thought for sure that Asami was just some prissy rich girl, boy was I wrong. I'm actually starting to like this girl, and in a way I actually feel kinda bad for her that she's dating Mako, she can obviously do better. Okay, maybe I'm being a little hard on Mako, but he started it. Anyway, Asami took me for a spin in one of the satomobiles and we totally creamed the other driver in the race, it was awesome! Afterwards, I felt like I needed to straighten myself out as I probably looked a total mess after that race. After taking care of 'personal needs' I set about washing up; that's when I noticed the makeup on the sink counter. Why in the world did girls wear this stuff? Was there something about it that guys found attractive? My thoughts instantly switched to Noak, would he notice me more if I acted like these city-girls? I thought it was worth a try. Boy was I stupid. I practically slammed the powder-puff for the face-powder against my face. Note to self, never use makeup in the same way you would attack a bad guy, either that or just stay away from makeup in general. Coughing and wiping the powder out of my eyes, I walked into the hallway and noticed Noak and Tarro crouching beside the door to Mr. Sato's office, I was going to ask them what they were doing when I heard what Mr. Sato was saying on the phone. It made my blood run cold.

"I regret to say that the plan at Cabbage Corp didn't go as it should've. Apparently, someone tipped-off the police. Yes, yes, I understand, but we've lost too much time already. No, no-I assure you that I will do everything I can, but it's not easy with the police breathing down my neck. It seems their informant let something slip that made the police suspicious. Don't worry, I intend to make good on my promise. Trust me; by the end of the week, we'll be ready to strike."

I couldn't believe it. Hiroshi Sato? An Equalist? I looked at the guys who turned to me with serious looks. Then, I noticed what Tarro was holding. It looked like a recording device.

"What's that?" I whispered.

Tarro whipped the thing out of sight.

"Nothing." He replied, but I already knew he was lying.

"Where did you two get a recorder?"

They exchanged nervous looks.

"We borrowed it." Noak stated. At the same time, Tarro answered: "Birthday present."

"Tarro, your birthday's not for another month." I quietly snapped. "And don't you guys lie to me."

"Is this really the time?" Noak retorted. "We've got information that we need to get to the authorities."

"Fine, but how are you gonna get that thing out of here without getting noticed?"

A devious smile crossed Tarro's face, causing Noak to facepalm.

"Not the trench-coats. Please, Tarro, for the love of Yue, _no_." He moaned. Okay, now I was _really_ confused.

We heard sounds, we began to worry that someone was coming.

"We don't have a choice." Tarro said.

For whatever reason that Noak and Tarro had brought a trench-coat with them, we managed to keep the recorder hidden underneath it. We quickly made our way for the door where we were accosted by our friends.

"You're leaving?" Asami asked us. "But, I thought-"

"Uh, sorry. We forgot, we're supposed to air-sit, I mean baby-Bend, I-I mean babysit the Airbender kids. Bye!"

"Thank you, we had a lovely time." Noak said as I grabbed his arm and dragged him out as quickly as I could. As we were leaving, I managed to overhear Bolin say something.

"Is it just me, or does Tarro look different somehow?"

"He was wearing a trench-coat." Mako answered.

"Huh, you'd think we would've noticed that earlier."

Tarrlok's POV:

The message was no less eerie when we replayed it on the recorder for Chief Bei Fong and Tenzin.

"So, it was Sato who manufactured those gloves for the Equalists?" Tenzin asked us.

"Yes." Noatak replied. "The three of us overheard the conversation and recorded it as proof."

"Wait a moment," Bei Fong interrupted, "where did you three get a recorder?"

Noatak and I exchanged looks for at least the second time today.

"Never mind _how_ they got their information," Korra interjected, "the point is, we now have proof that Hiroshi is up to something. And we think it may even be bigger than just the electric gloves."

"I have a theory-" Noatak started before I cleared my throat. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine. _Tarro_ has a theory."

"Thank you." We had decided as of the other night that I would divulge the information he had, so as to make it less awkward for him. "We suspect that Mr. Sato is working on a bigger project, something none of us have encountered thus far. Whatever it is he's working on, he would know better than to keep it hidden in any part of Future Industries. It would be the first place anyone would look." I then turned to look at a map of Republic City, holding up one finger in the way that detectives always do when they deduce stuff. "Therefore, I suspect that he has a secret base of operations."

I could feel Noatak rolling his eyes behind my back, but I knew everyone else was listening intently.

"I would imagine that he would want to keep a location like that close-by, but in a secret location so the authorities won't find it."

"But, why would Hiroshi help the Equalists in the first place?" Korra asked.

"He does have the means…and he has a motive." Bei Fong pointed out.

"A motive?"

"Twelve years ago, the Agni Kai Triad robbed Sato's mansion." Tenzin explained. "A Firebender killed Sato's wife during the break in."

"That's terrible."

"And therein we find our answers." I continued with a smug look on my face. "Master Tenzin, I do believe you've answered _two_ questions." Everyone gave me confused looks except for Noatak. "We know _why_ Mr. Sato would be involved with Equalists. The death of his wife would prompt him to have anti-Bender sympathies. And, where better a place to hide the location of his endeavor for revenge, than in the very place where those sympathies began?" Everyone gave me awed looks, except Noatak who just rolled his eyes again, but I soaked up the admiration. "The Sato mansion."

Korra rushed over to me and pulled me into a hug.

"Tarro," she said, "_you_ are a Water Tribe genius."

I saw Noatak smile at me a little, which confused me.

"You know, little bro, I don't care what everyone says, you're pretty smart." He told me.

I beamed for a moment until I realized what he was implying.

Noatak's POV:

I knew that the mecha-tanks still had a few kinks at this stage; Hiroshi had needed those extra couple days to finish them in the other life. We would hit fast and hit hard, we were moving in on the Sato mansion immediately. I knew Tarrlok felt on top of the world for being credited with 'figuring out' the truth about Hiroshi Sato, even though I was the one who gave him all the information. I had to give Tarrlok credit though; he sure knew how to put on a good show and play his part well. We all stormed in, complete with a large number of police officers. I knew for a fact that Hiroshi wouldn't be prepared if we found the secret factory right now, he would be expecting us to search Future Industries like in the other life, which took a few days and gave him the time and opportunity he needed. As we entered, we ignored the shocked looks on the faces of our friends, and headed straight for Sato's office. Of course he denied everything.

"Then you won't mind if we search the premises?" Chief Bei Fong asked.

"I-of course not." Hiroshi replied. I could sense that his heartbeat had picked up its pace as he became nervous. He hadn't expected us to search the estate. We had him cornered.

We looked around the grounds, until we came upon the workshop.

"Chief," I said to Bei Fong, "perhaps someone should keep an eye on Mr. Sato while we inspect his workshop. Just as a precaution." Of course I knew perfectly well that Hiroshi would head straight to the secret factory if he realized we were on to him.

"Good idea, kid." She turned to some officers. "Kindly escort Mr. Sato out here. If we find anything, I don't want to take the chance of the suspect evading our watch."

"Yes, ma'am." The officers said and went to retrieve Sato.

"I suggest we take a look in the workshop." Bei Fong stated as the search tea moved towards the building in question.

Asami Sato was still professing her father's innocence, Mako was practically fuming, and Bolin just seemed really confused as always. We followed Bei Fong into the workshop.

"Are you satisfied?" Asami inquired with irritation. "Will you drop this now?"

"Not just yet." Bei Fong replied. She then Metalbended the armor off the bottom of her foot and struck it to the ground, using her Earthbending to sense the vibrations. "There's a tunnel under here running deep into the mountainside."

"What? There's no tunnel." Asami insisted.

Bei Fong then Metalbended the floor up to reveal the secret tunnel underneath.

Bolin gave a gasp.

"Do you think your dad knows about this tunnel?" He whispered to Asami.

Just then, the Metalbender officers entered with Hiroshi, who had a look of shock on his face when he saw that we had located the tunnel.

"This is all a big misunderstanding." He tried to convince us, but no one was buying it. Even Asami looked skeptical. "I assure you, I can explain this."

"I think this merits a little investigation." Bei Fong stated.

Korra's POV:

I still couldn't believe what we found down there. Giant mechanical things that were impervious to Bending attacks, luckily only a few of them had been finished. If Hiroshi had even had two more days before we found his secret factory, it would have been disastrous. Asami was shocked and horrified upon learning the truth about her father, before the cops began to drag him away he pleaded with her to help him, but she just turned away ashamed to even look at him.

"I'm sorry about your father." I told her as we waited on the front steps of the mansion as more officers came in and out to continue investigations and to confiscate the offending weapons.

"I can't believe it." She replied. "I can't believe he would do something like this."

"I really wish this didn't have to happen. I'm so sorry, Asami."

"No, you have nothing to be sorry about." She turned to me with a sad smile. "You're a good friend Korra. I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you and the police showed up."

"Hey, it's not your fault. I probably wouldn't have believed me either."

Mako and Bolin came to sit down next to us.

"Hey." They said.

"Hi." I replied.

"I just can't see how this is all even possible." Mako thought aloud. "Sponsoring our team and everything. It just doesn't make any sense."

"I know, it still seems hard to believe, even after what we all just saw."

I glanced up at Noak and Tarro, who were busy relaying more information to the police. They both glanced over at me for a moment and gave small, reassuring smiles. A silent understanding passed between the three of us, things were going to be different, that much was certain.

**Phew. Finally. Took me forever to focus long enough to finish this chapter. I finally decided that Noatak and Tarrlok should make some serious changes to the story, hope you liked it. Please review.**


	15. These Things Will Change

Just Like the Good Old Days

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was stumped on what to do for this chapter. Please note, I will be chopping up 'When Extremes Meet' as the change in events means some things are gonna go differently. I don't own Legend of Korra. But if I did then Korra would've ended up with either Tarrlok or Noatak (or both). Oh, the name I got for this chapter was derived from Taylor Swift's song 'Change'.**

These Things Will Change

Noatak's POV:

"What do you mean he escaped?!" I heard Asami shout as we all waited at the police station. It was the day after Hiroshi was arrested, and somehow he managed to escape from custody.

"Miss Sato, please calm down." Chief Bei Fong warned her. "We are doing all we can to track him down but it's not easy as the Equalists probably have secret hideouts. He could be _anywhere_. Just have some patience and we will do what we can."

Everyone was getting worried. I knew perfectly well that Hiroshi Sato would help the Equalists develop more weapons, and that was the last thing we needed right now. We all stood up and headed out of the police department. Asami, Mako, and Bolin asked if they could come and stay on Air Temple Island now that the Sato mansion was pretty much off-limits; naturally we consented. Korra, Tarrlok, and I waited for them to arrive with their belongings at the Air Temple dock. I noticed Korra's concerned look, none of us had said much since the incident and I could tell there were things on her mind.

"Korra, are you alright?" I asked.

"Just…I'm worried. With Hiroshi on the loose the Equalists have a valuable ally. Who knows what he'll invent to help them?" I knew exactly what he would invent to help the Equalists. And it was not good.

I put an arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head against me. I could feel myself starting to blush slightly at the close contact. What's the matter with me? I shouldn't be letting myself get so flustered. But every time she gets this close to me, my heart just beats a little faster and I feel dizzy. Is this what love is supposed to feel like? It's so strange, but not entirely unpleasant. Soon the boat pulled up with the others.

"You're finally here!" I heard Ikki exclaim as she waved to the new arrivals. "Welcome to Air Temple Island. Your new home."

"Yes, welcome to my domain." Meelo added.

"Well, aren't you sweet, little monk child." Bolin replied.

Suddenly, Pabu jumped off of Bolin's shoulder and began scurrying around.

"What's that fuzzy creature?" Meelo asked.

"That is a fire ferret." Jinora explained. "An arboreal mammal common to the bamboo forest of the central Earth Kingdom."

"He's cuuuuute!" Ikki squealed, making the little fire ferret give off a frightened shriek and run from the Airbender child. Meelo then Airbended himself onto Naga's head and began to tug on her ears shouting "Yip-yip" like he would a sky-bison. The rest of us chuckled at the amusing antics of these children.

"Thanks for sending the Air Acolytes to help us with the move." Mako said to us.

"Yes, they've been amazing." Asami agreed. "Such tireless workers."

Korra, Tarrlok, and I glanced behind our friends to see the Air Acolytes struggling to handle the huge quantities of luggage that Asami had brought with her. Korra and I exchanged questioning looks.

"I thought you were only bringing a _few_ things?" I inquired.

"Trust me, it could've been worse." Mako assured us.

"No problem," Korra responded, "everyone here wants you guys to feel welcome."

I noticed how Mako was looking at the way I still had my arm around Korra's shoulder. Perhaps not everyone was _deserving_ of being welcomed. We held a brief glare at each other before moving onwards towards the temple.

"And now for the grand tour!" Ikki declared in her ridiculously fast way. "The flying bison sleep in those caves down _there_. And _that's_ the temple Grandpa Aang built. And _that's_ the greenhouse where we grow the vegetables we eat."

"I have a couple questions!" Bolin spoke up and then began a stream of questions that were spoken at the same speed that Ikki uses. "Is this an all vegetarian island? Is that where you train Airbending? Do we have to wear Air Acolyte clothes? Do we each get our own sky bison? And final question, how many trees are on this island?"

Ikki thought for a moment and then responded no less quickly.

"Yes. Yes. No. No. Ten thousand five hundred and fifty two."

After a long, awkward pause, I cleared my throat and broke the silence.

"I think Tarro and I will show you two" I said to Mako and Bolin "to the boy's dormitory if Korra will escort Asami to the girl's."

"Sounds like a plan." Korra agreed.

As Tarrlok and I led the other two boys away, with Meelo and Jinora following behind us, I had the strangest feeling that something awkward was going to happen.

"Mako, Bolin," Jinora said, "did you know that Noak likes Korra?"

Inside my head, I was letting out a horrific shriek as lighting flashed and fire blazed behind me and my eyes went white and bugged out of my skull in outrage.

"Uh, no we were not entirely aware of that." Mako replied, I could sense the annoyance in his tone. What is his problem anyway? This is the millionth time that he has given off an attitude of unjustifiable jealousy whenever Korra has expressed interest in someone other than him.

"Well of course he likes Korra!" Bolin exclaimed, his naïve innocence hindering him from realizing the true meaning of what the child had said. "I mean, we all like her! She's a wonderful friend."

"Well, that's not exactly what I-" Jinora started, but I swiftly cut her off.

"Jinora, could you please excuse us? You too, Meelo."

Jinora glowered at being dismissed but she took her little brother by the hand and led him off.

"So…you and Korra are…together?" Mako asked me.

"Uh…not exactly." I replied. I did not like where this conversation was headed. Tarrlok gave a muffled cough to get our attention and we continued on to show our…_guests_ to their room.

Tarrlok's POV:

After the awkward conversation with Mako and Bolin, Noatak disappeared for a while. I assured the others that he was fine and went to look for him. Surprise, surprise, I found him broodingly looking out over the landscape like he did when we were younger in that other life. I advanced closer and he must have sensed me approach as he suddenly tucked something into his pocket. I didn't see what it was, just a flash of light blue.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked him.

"You wouldn't understand." He sighed.

"Try me." I replied as I sat next to him. He didn't respond. "What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything." I could detect a bit of defensiveness in his tone and pouted.

"Don't give me that. I saw you put something in your pocket as soon as you realized I was approaching."

When he continued to give me the silent treatment a devious smile crept over my face. Before he even had a chance to react, as his reflexes are not as good since he stopped using Bloodbending, I snatched whatever it was in his pocket and darted away.

"Give it back!" He demanded as he tried to tackle me.

"Nuh-uh."

"Tarrlok, I'm serious." He said, his voice becoming low and threatening, it reminded me of when he spoke as Amon. "Hand it over."

Instead of listening, I looked at the object in my hand. It was a smooth, round, light-blue stone. Funny, the only kind of stones I've seen these used for is betrothal nec-

"Oh my spirits."

"Tarrlok, I'm warning you."

"Oh. My. Spirits!"

"Shhh." He slapped a hand over my mouth. "You want all of Republic City to find out?"

My eyes had gone wide. He couldn't be serious? In the middle of a war? Now?

"If I take my hand way, do you promise to keep your composure?"

I nodded and mumbled "Yes" through his hand. He pulled his hand away.

"You're gonna…you and Korra…what the…how the…when…?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose in vexation.

"I knew you wouldn't react well to this. Yes, I've been thinking about this for a while now. I can't keep hiding how I feel about her. I'm-I'm going to let her know soon and…if things go well…"

"In the middle of a war?"

"With all the changes we've made to how things are going I don't know how everything's going to turn out. If-if something goes wrong, I want to have at least one chance to…"

I could hear the words dying in his throat. I put a hand on his shoulder and returned the stone to him.

"So…what are you gonna carve?"

Korra's POV:

Noak had been acting really dodgy lately. The way he and Mako looked at each other made me think that there had been something of a disagreement between them. I didn't like that there was animosity between my friends, it made me uneasy. I've also been feeling more self-conscious around Noak. Every time he looks at me I feel worried that there's something wrong with me, but when he doesn't look away and instead smiles at me I feel like I am the most perfect person in the world. I just wish I knew how to tell him how I felt. Things are just so weird right now.

At least it's nice to have another girl my age around, and Asami's pretty fun.

"So, Korra," Asami said to me as we hung out after I'd finished practice, "I hear you like Noak."

"What?" Panic raced through me. "Wha-No I-I…we're just…I mean I…" I let out a sigh. "Is it really that obvious?"

"Sweetie, I could see it a mile away." She replied, her red lips curling into a smug smirk. "And for the record, he obviously likes you too."

"R-really?" My heart started to beat a little faster.

"_Oh yeah_. And I think it's sweet. You two are so perfect for each other. You even look a little similar. Frankly, when I first met you both, I thought you were twins until he asked you to dance at that gala."

The memory of the gala hit me like I had been run over by a satomobile. Tarrlok had been sending me requests that I rejoin his taskforce, but I had refused again. This time I would be ready in case there was any more funny business. Something didn't sit right with me about Tarrlok; he'd been pursuing Equalists a little too aggressively, even taking it out on ordinary Nonbending citizens. I was interrupted from these thoughts when Noak appeared, heading right towards us. I looked frantically at Asami, who just smiled knowingly at me.

"Oh, uh…hey, Noak." I said nervously rubbing the back of my head. "Did you want something?"

"Um, yes, actually." He replied. There was something different in his voice, he sounded unsure of himself for once. "I was wondering…would you do me the pleasure of accompanying me for dinner this evening?"

The way he asked clearly indicated that he was asking me out on a date. I may not have much experience with the real world, but I'm not _that_ naïve. I felt warmth flood my cheeks and I knew I was blushing. Nervously, I nodded. A bright smile broke out across his features. Maybe Asami _was_ right.

Noatak's POV:

The evening had been one of the most wonderful nights of my life. Even more than when Korra and I had gone to that play a few weeks ago. The entire time I was a nervous wreck though. I kept fidgeting nervously with my thumbs under the table. Korra seemed to notice my nervousness and began to look a little shy herself. This was the unexplored territory. For the longest time we had been nothing more than just friends, and we were both anxious. I suddenly realized that my hands were sweaty and a shiver of panic went through me. How could this happen?! I'm a forty-something-year-old in a nineteen-year-old's body, this should _not_ be happening! We chatted casually, I don't even really remember the topics, it was just anything we could think of. It wasn't like I had just asked some random girl I didn't know to go out with me, I knew Korra by heart. I had grown up with her. I cared about her. I…I do believe I love her.

"Korra." She looked up when I spoke. "There's something very important I want to tell you."

"Yes, Noak? What is it?"

"Korra, I…"

**Cliff-hanger! Bwahahahaha! I'm so bad. Sorry, folks, but it had to be done. I know, I know, we all hate cliff-hangers. Anyway, what do you think is gonna happen? Will Noatak finally be able to confess his feelings for Korra? Will something happen to interrupt them before they have a chance? You'll have to wait and see.**


	16. Kidnapped

Just Like the Good Old Days

**I am so sorry for the wait I've put you all through, and I thank you for your patience. I have been procrastinating and had a dreadful amount of writer's block; PLUS! I've gotten re-obsessed with Harry Potter, so I have been getting started on some fanfics for that; to say the least of all the end-of-year stress I had to deal with. But, I have come back to you at last. I don't own Legend of Korra.**

Kidnapped

Noatak's POV:

"Korra, I…"

"_Attention! Attention!_" the radio in the restaurant blared and I felt as if the Universe had decided it wanted to, for lack of better words, screw me over. "_This just in. There has just been a jailbreak at police headquarters! Equalist chi-blockers are at large. Armed and dangerous. Last seen heading…_" I didn't even need to hear the rest to know what was happening, or that my date with Korra was to be unceremoniously cut short.

Korra quickly slammed down some money on the table and pulled me towards the door. Within moments, we were racing through the streets of Republic City on Naga. We soon caught sight of the familiar figures on motorcycles as well as a truck that I knew contained the escaped Equalists. Hard to believe that I had once been the one to order their escape; and now, here I was stopping them.

We were barely keeping up with the much quicker vehicles when help arrived. Tarrlok, Asami, Bolin, and Mako were racing up towards the Equalist truck in Asami's car.

"Nice of you guys to show up!" Korra shouted to the others.

The case began to heat up. The others nearly crashed into another truck that crossed in front of us until Korra and Bolin Earthbent a ramp so the car could be safely propelled over it; Naga followed by jumping on top of the vehicle and then down the other side. Mako and Bolin began a barrage of lighting and earth at the Equalists, while Tarrlok shot ice projectiles that he drew from the rainwater on the streets; then a smoke-screen was released that engulfed everything. Korra just managed to Earthbend the car around the corner before it could crash. The Equalists hadn't realized we had made the turn, which meant we had the element of surprise on our side. Korra charged Naga forward and took down two Equalists on satocycles; the Equalists, however, ended up on the hood of the car. Mako blasted at them with fire, but they were too quick. Knowing the risk, I, myself, leapt off of Naga and onto the car.

The Equalists were, naturally, shocked by how easily I evaded them; I could tell they were probably newer recruits as their form was rather sloppy. Asami then came to the rescue by electrocuting the two assailants with an Equalist glove that she had undoubtedly taken from her father's workshop when the police were removing the offensive weapons. Our opponents down, I moved to the back-seat of the car. Asami then drove the car right alongside the truck and Mako shot a blast of lightning at the driver, sending the vehicle crashing.

Before we knew it, our pictures were being taken by news reporters.

That's when an angry, adult Tarrlok came charging over to us.

"Avatar Korra," he demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, hey, Tarrlok," Korra drawled in amusement. "Nice of you to show up, _finally_. Here, we captured the escaped convicts for you."

"What you did was tear up the city and impede the _real_ authorities in their pursuit of these criminals."

"Hmm, that's funny…I didn't see your little taskforce _or_ the cops, the whole time. If it wasn't for Team Avatar, they would have gotten away."

Tarrlok then turned to Chief Bei Fong.

"Chief Bei Fong, please, help me out here," he pleaded.

Bei Fong gave a smirk.

"I admit, the Avatar has a point," she said. "I am interested to know why my officers were so inefficient that a bunch of teenagers had to take the law into their own hands."

It seems that Bei Fong has learned a few things since we first came to the city; if she still thought the same way about us as she first did, we would be headed straight to prison. After a brief argument with Tarrlok, Bei Fong took the prisoners away. Tarrlok then turned to face us.

"I'm warning you, right now," he said threateningly. "If you aren't going to be a part of my taskforce, then stay out of my way."

That's when our Tarrlok stepped forward.

"Your taskforce is nothing but a vainglorious attempt to garner favor with the public; when, in reality, all you are doing is pushing the Non-Benders farther away. At least _we_ actually care about protecting the citizens rather than just getting publicity and fame. If anyone needs to stay out of anyone else's way, it's you out of ours."

Obviously, the older Tarrlok was taken-aback. I was actually very proud of my little brother in that moment when he faced down himself; that certainly took a great deal of courage.

However, once the adrenalin of the case had stilled, I remembered exactly what was supposed to have happened this evening and gave a groan. My attempt to express my feelings to Korra had, once again, been thwarted. It was time to find some form of consolation.

Tarrlok's POV:

It had been a quiet evening at the Air Temple. I knew that Noatak and Korra were going out, so I and the others were just hanging around and doing nothing in particular. That was when we heard the news report about the escaped Equalists. Deciding that something had to be done, we loaded into Asami's car and set off. It wasn't long before we spotted Noatak and Korra on Naga. We all joined together as a team and swiftly brought down the Equalists.

Standing up to myself was terrifying, and yet thrilling. I knew it wouldn't be the last we would hear from me, but it was satisfying to know that I had shown myself to be the better man.

The following day brought news of the Council's new policy regarding Equalists and Non-Benders. Once I really thought about it, it came back to me that it was a horrible decision that had pushed people too far and led to my downfall.

As night was beginning to arrive, I realized that I hadn't seen Noatak since earlier today. He had told me the Equalist escape had interrupted him _just_ as he was about to tell Korra how he feels about her. I figured I better find him, and soon.

Noatak's POV:

Ah, alcohol, my old friend. It'd been a long time since I was able to take a drink when things go wrong. It seems that every time I tried to talk to Korra, something would happen. I remember this bar from my previous existence; I used to come here a lot before the Equalist Movement really got started.

"Noa, what are you doing?"

"Hey, Tar, how's it going?" I asked in a monotone.

"I could ask _you_ the same thing. What are you doing here?"

"Having a drink and wallowing in self-pity."

I heard Tarrlok sigh in frustration but I didn't care.

"You're doing this because your date with Korra got interrupted and you weren't able to tell her how you feel about her, aren't you?"

"Gee, I thought that much would be obvious," I said with a heavy note of sarcasm.

"You've got to stop this, Noa. You're only going to cause trouble for yourself."

"Look, Tar, I really just need to be left alone right now, okay?"

"Fine. I was only trying to help. I'll leave you to your self-destruction."

I heard him leave the bar but didn't look up. I'm not sure why, but my head began to feel funny. That's odd. I only had one glass of rice wine; and that's not even strong. At least, not compared to stuff like Cactus Juice. My vision was becoming oddly blurred. What was _in_ that stuff? I got up from my stool and began to head towards the door but my feet gave way and I fell. As I stared up, I saw several people lean over me. That's when a familiar voice echoed through the silence.

"Well, it looks like we caught one of the Avatar's little _friends_. Amon will be pleased."

My last thought before everything went black was _Oh crap_.

Korra's POV:

Tarro eventually turned up at where we were waiting; he didn't have Noak with him, though.

"Noak's not feeling well, at the moment," he said. "Apparently, something happened last night that set off one of his 'moods.'"

It was getting kind of late when an announcement blared over the car's radio about Equalists in the Dragon Flats borough. We quickly hopped into Asami's car and shot straight off for the location. When we arrived, however, it turned out that it wasn't Equalists at all; it was a crowd of Non-Benders who were angry about Tarrlok's new policy.

When I looked around for the person in charge, I saw Tarrlok himself; he was in a heated argument with Bei Fong.

"You can't treat civilians like this, Tarrlok!" Bei Fong shouted. "These people have rights!"

"I am trying to protect this city," Tarrlok retorted.

"Well, you're doing a pretty crap job of it," I snapped, getting their attention.

"Avatar Korra, you and your friends have no business here," Tarrlok said.

"We're not going anywhere. You don't have the right to treat these innocent people like criminals."

"For once in your life, Tarrlok," Bei Fong added, "Listen to someone other than yourself. I will not allow my officers to be used to threaten the public."

"This is an Equalist rally," Tarrlok insisted. "There is nothing innocent about it."

"They're not Equalists," Asami protested. "They're normal people who want their rights back."

"They are the _enemy_. Round up all these Equalists!" Tarrlok shouted at his taskforce.

"Stand down!" Bei Fong ordered her officers; some of whom disregarded her orders and began to aid the taskforce.

To say I was pissed off would be an understatement.

Tarrlok's POV:

When Korra began to rescue the people that my older self was arresting, I knew there was going to be trouble. Remembering what happened next, I just noticed that the older me was about to seize Asami.

"Asami, look out!" I shouted just as the steam of water was about to catch her wrist.

I ducked in front of her and began to fend off the attack.

"Arrest her," my older self shouted at two of the taskforce members.

"What?" Mako protested. "You can't do that!"

"Actually, I can. She's a Non-Bender out after curfew and her father is a known Equalist conspirator."

"Leave her alone!" I declared.

"Arrest those three as well." My older self pointed towards me and the other two boys.

I ducked just as a taskforce person was about to grab me; too late for the others.

"Tarro, run!" I heard Korra shout. That's when I saw her move protectively in front of me and I was reminded of that night in the blizzard so long ago. "Stay away from him," I heard Korra growl.

I looked up and saw a shocked look on my older self's face; clearly his thoughts were similar to mine. His apprehension passed quickly and he threatened to arrest Korra as well unless she and I returned to the Air Temple. Mako called over to us to reassure that they would be okay and that we needed to get out. I put a comforting hand on Korra's shoulder as we watched the others taken away.

"So sad to see your little 'Team Avatar' broken up," sneered my older self. "You had a good run."

"This isn't over, Tarrlok," Korra said threateningly.

"Oh, I believe it is."

As Korra and I headed back to the car, I noticed that Bei Fong was continuing what we had tried to do in releasing the captured Non-Benders. I still couldn't believe what a jerk I had been; I knew there was danger coming.

As soon as we got back to the Air Temple, we went straight to Tenzin. We had no luck at the police station; it seemed that Bei Fong had been 'relieved of her duties' for interfering with 'justice' and now Saikan was in charge.

When we again returned to the Air Temple, I turned to Korra.

"Korra, I know you're angry," I said. "But, please, don't do anything brazen or rash. There's no telling what Tarrlok might do and we just need to think things through."

"Okay, Tarro," she replied. "I'll try to be patient."

When I saw that Korra and Naga were missing the following morning, I knew just where I needed to go. I really hoped that Noatak was okay; having to find his way home, drunk, is never an easy feat.

* * *

**Yes! I finally got off my lazy butt and wrote another chapter! Whoo! Just to clarify something; because Lin Bei Fong had arrested Hiroshi Sato before he could lead everyone into a trap, she did not end up resigning as Police Chief; however, because she stood against Tarrlok in this chapter, she ended up getting removed from her position. Just thought I should make that clear. Thanks for reading, please review.**


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